Rs 800 crore plan to revive lossmaking sugarmills

Budhewal, Ludhiana, Dec 1 (UNI) Punjab Cooperation Minister Kanwaljit Singh today said that the state Government had chalked out a Rs 800 crore plan to revive all the 9 loss making Sugar Mills.

The plan would br presented before the Cabinet in the next meeting for approval and no Cooperative Sugar Mill would be sold to private parties, he said while addressing the sugar Cane growers at a function after inaugurating the crushing Season of Bhudhewal Sugar Mills here.

He said that in the new plan, the crushing capacity of the Cooperative Sugar Mills was being enhanced to 5000 MT of Sugar Cane and Co- generation plants for production of power and Ethnol were also being set up in the Cooperative Mills, so that these could be self reliant.

He said that a team of experts from Japan was visiting Punjab shortly to identify the mills for co-generation plants.

Criticising faculty Sugar Control Act of Government of India, the Minister said that even the sugar surplus states had to import the sugar for local consumption from the other states.

He said that the state government was sending a proposal to Centre for amending the sugar Control Act to allow the sugar producing states to first meet its local demand and to give the remaining sugar to other states.

He said that state government was strictly against the monopoly in the sugar trade and said that private mills were selling a major part of Sugar in the black market and evading tax of the government amounting to Rs 300 crore in the state.

Cooperative Mills would be given one ruppe extra per qtl. from the Fixed price by the Government for sugar cane, he said.

The Cooperation Minister said that to ensure the optimum utilization of rural Cooperative Societies, more services like Gas supply, diesel, pumps, ambulances, agriculture implements and power bill services were being added.

He also disclosed that in each district some societies would be fully modernized as model societies and competition among the different types of societies would also be arranged and attractive prizes to the best performer societies would be given.

The Minister said that the Cooperative Institutions had disbursed Rs 4,801 crore credit to farmers in the last Financial year and 8.59 lakh farmers had received credit cards.

He further informed that Co-Operative banks had advanced Rs 1,133.55 crore to farmers under the Revolving Cash Crop Credit facility to meet domestic and social requirements of the farm sector," He added.

The Minister further said "the target is to advance crop loan to the tune of Rs 6000 crore to the farming community in the state this year. Co-Operative banks have a recovery percentage of over 90, even through these institutions never employ coercive method. To recover loans. " Loans are given for purchasing farm machinery s well as milch animals. This year, Rs 117 crore was disbursed under these schemes, he added .

The Minister further added that Cooperative department has launched a new scheme for women empowerment named " Mai Bhago Istri Shakti Yojana" to bring about a social and economic revolution by ensuring women empowerment in the state. He said that two different wings i.e. creative wings- for training and education and marketing wing- to arrange the marketing of the various products of these societies in national and international markets have been set up.

In the function he honored around one dozen sugar cane growers for excellent performance.

UNI