State forms panel to address sugar industry crisis

Kolhapur: State govt has set up a nine-member panel, led by chief secretary Rajesh Aggarwal, to study the crisis through which the sugar industry is currently going through and suggest measures to be adopted from the sugar cane crushing season of 2026-27.The panel consists of additional chief secretaries for finance, agriculture, energy department, principal secretaries of industry and cooperation and marketing departments, managing director of Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank, cooperation commissioner and sugar commissioner."The committee should study the challenges, nature of difficulties before the sugar industry from state and submit a report with solutions and alternatives to the state govt," states the notification issued by the state cooperation, marketing and textile department on Friday.The federation of sugar mills in the state, during a meeting with CM Devendra Fadnavis last month, claimed that they have a total loan of around Rs 13,000 crore and do not have enough liquidity to repay. The representatives of the millers claimed that banks do not sanction loans equivalent to the sugar cane's Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) and sought a grant of Rs500 per tonne for the industry.They added that sugar mills have dues of Rs 5,000 crore towards the FRP to be given to the farmers. The federation has demanded restructuring of Rs 13,000 loan with seven year repayment time, besides seeking a pre-harvesting loan of around Rs5,500 crore for 2026-27 crushing season.
Get real-time updates and result insights on the UBSE UK Board Results 2026 and CBSE 12th Result 2026