Karnataka wants Govt nod for releasing excess sugar stocks in market

Karnataka wants Govt nod for releasing excess sugar stocks in market
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

Bangalore, December 31: Chief Minister S M Krishna and his Sugar Minister A Krishnappa will leave for Delhi in a couple of days to prevail upon the Centre to permit release of Rs 450 crore worth sugar stocks in the sugar mills to the market.

According to Krishnappa, the sugar mills in Karnataka are in a very bad financial shape due to the sugar import policy and surplus sugarcane production besides the restriction on release of stocks to the market. The Minister told media persons here on Thursday that he had already urged the Union Agriculture Minister Shantha Kumar to levy more duty on imported sugar and also to consider relaxing the tax on the sugar industry.

Krishnappa stated that nearly six lakh farmers were engaged in cane growing and about a lakh employees were in sugar mills in Karnataka. Considering the number of persons and their families dependent on the sugar industry, Karnataka had suggested to the Centre to convene a conference of the sugar ministers in January to discuss the problems facedby the industry.

About the measures taken to solve the problem arising out of the excess cane production, the minister said the state had an estimated ten lakh metric tonnes of excess cane out of which the Sanjeevini sugar mills in neighbouring Goa state had agreed to crush two lakh metric tonnes.

He said the cane grown in Shimoga area was being sent to the sugar mill in Mandya since the Devi Sugars in Shimoga had remained closed yet. Similarly, the excess cane grown in Davangere would be sent to the Shamanur sugar factory.