PANAJI
Even as the State government continues to delay the revival of the Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd. (SSSKL), it has extended financial assistance to the loss-making cooperative sugar factory for another year to meet salary and operating expenses of its employees.
With the latest extension, the government is expected to have spent nearly Rs 35 crore on grants since the scheme was introduced in 2020.
In a notification, Director of Agriculture Chandrahas Dessai said the government has extended the Grant-in-Aid to Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd scheme till March 31, 2027.
The factory, which has around 170 employees, including 99 regular staff, has remained shut since the 2019-20 crushing season after decades of mounting losses.
According to sources, the State has been releasing Rs 6-7 crore annually under the grant scheme primarily towards payment of salaries and other operational expenditure.
The Sanjivani Sugar factory functioned for 46 years before crushing operations were suspended owing to recurrent mechanical failures, acute shortage of sugarcane, non-availability of spare parts and heavy accumulated losses.
Official records state in the absence of revenue generation, the government had formulated the financial assistance scheme in 2020 to provide grants for meeting operating expenditure, including staff salaries.
Meanwhile, the government has also extended the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for the 2026-27 financial year. However, pulse crops have been de-notified across Goa during the Kharif season due to the absence of cultivation. Sugarcane and groundnut have also been de-notified in North Goa district owing to the negligible area under cultivation.
