Karnataka - Gulbarga   

Kanta sees bid to stop Revival of sugar factory

By Our Special Correspondent

GULBARGA, NOV. 6. The former Labour Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader S.K. Kanta has charged that politicians who were responsible for the present state of affairs at the Aland Cooperative Sugar Factory (ACSF) were again trying to prevent the Government from reviving the factory.

Speaking to presspersons here on Friday, Mr Kanta, who has been spearheading an agitation of the factory workers demanding its revival, took exception to objections raised by the legislators for the factory's revival at the high-level review meeting chaired by the Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, in Gulbarga on Wednesday.

He said that when the Chief Minister was ready to provide the required funds for the factory's revival, and senior officials, including the Principal Secretary to the Cooperation Department, had also come up with options for the revival, "certain people" were trying to scuttle the proposal by wanting an expert committee to look into the matter.

Funds

Mr. Kanta said that there was no need for the appointment of an expert committee and the audit reports of the factory clearly stated that owing to the lack of working capital and mismanagement of funds by the management, the factory could not revive its crushing operations. If the required funds were provided, the factory could be revived.

He said that only when administrators were put in charge of the factory, would it achieve optimum crushing and earn profits. Unlike other factories, such as Pandavapura and Bhagyalaxmi, which have been revived, the ACSF had not suffered huge cash loss. The cash loss of the factory is only Rs. 10 crores.He said that the Union Government was ready to provide Rs. 6 crores towards the factory's revival. The State Government only had to submit the balance sheet of the factory to avail the interest free loan under the Sugarcane Development Fund (SDF). He said that the employees of the factory, who had threatened to commit mass suicide on November 1 demanding payment of the pending salaries, had postponed their threat following a request from the Chief Minister who said that he would convene a meeting in Bangalore to work out a revival plan. The Deputy Commissioner, Anjum Parvez, had also urged and persuaded the workers to give up their threat, he added.

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Kanta sees bid to stop Revival of sugar factory

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