As many private sugar factories are allegedly cheating sugarcane growers in weighing cane and denying minimum support price, the State government on Friday informed the Legislative Assembly that it is planning to formulate a new law on the lines of the Maharashtra Regulation of Sugarcane Price (Supplied to Factories) Act, 2013, to regulate private factories.
In a reply to the debate on alleged cheating of cane growers, cane transporters and labourers involved in harvesting the crop by private sugar factories, Minister for Sugar Shivananda Patil said factories have been operating without obtaining permission from the government for crushing the cane. Three factories in Mandya have begun crushing cane this season without obtaining permission from the department. In fact, factories had applied for permission after completion of the crushing season, he said. There are 92 sugar factories and 74 have been operating now.
Unlike in Maharashtra, Karnataka has not formulated a law to regulate the functioning of sugar factories in the private sector, he said.
