RTI reply: sugar factories in Karnataka face heavy losses
3 Dec, 2013
The reply to an application filed under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has shown that most of the sugar mills in Karnataka have been facing heavy losses. The reply provided by the office of the Commissioner for Cane Development and Sugar Control, stated that there are 60 mills in the state including those in public sector, private sector and cooperatives. Out of these, 34 mills have accumulated a total loss of Rs. 3,383 crore as on march 31, 2012.
As per the reply, a public sector undertaking Mysore Paper Mills (MPM) Sugar Refining Mills, whose byproducts are used as raw material for the paper mills, has accumulated a loss of Rs. 270.89 crore while 11 cooperative factories have accumulated a loss of Rs. 2,280.78 crore. The data given in the reply also shows that nine sugar mills in the cooperative sector working on lease have accumulated a loss of Rs. 415.39 crore whereas 13 private mills have accumulated a loss of Rs. 416.77 crore.
However, activists have alleged that the factories have falsely claimed to be in loss in order to deny better wages to their employees and better price to sugarcane growers and have demanded that a separate probe be done in order to get the truth behind the losses shown by the mills.