Mah farmers to get benefits of loan waiver package soon: Kadam

Pune, Jun 25 (UNI) The benefits of loan waiver package, announced by the Central government, would soon reach the farmers as the Maharashtra government had almost completed its formalities, said State Cooperation Minister Patangrao Kadam today.

Addressing a news conference here, Mr Kadam said ninety per cent work had been completed regarding waving of loan and final list would be completed very soon.

He said the government has served notices to 64 sugar factories for failing to provide Statutory Minimum Price (SMP) to sugarcane growers and blamed mill owners for not giving SMP price to the farmers as announced by the state government.

Commenting on the decision taken by the Central government to blend five per cent of ethanol with petrol, he said the sugar factories in the state had already increased the production of ethanol as per the Central government policy.

Mr Kadam said the state government had also taken a decision to produce electricity through sugar factories in the state. With this, the government has been expecting to produce 1,000 MW of electricity, which need an investment of around Rs 4,000 crore, he said.

Of the said amount, sixty per cent of the capital would be raised from private financial institutions, while 30 per cent of the capital would be provided from Sugar Development Fund. The state government has given an approval to purchase machinery for power generation to 15 co-operative sugar factories, he added.

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