With the main Opposition party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in no mood of relenting from its position on the ongoing sugar mill controversy, the Uttarakhand government has decided to roll back its decision of shutting down the Gadarpur sugar mill and of running four others on the public-private partnership (PPP) mode.
The government has now decided to conduct a fresh study of all its six ailing sugar mills by a central agency, said Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna here on Tuesday following a Cabinet meeting.
Last month, the Cabinet had decided to close the Gadarpur sugar mill and adopted the PPP model to revive four other loss-making sugar mills in the government and cooperative sectors.
The decision came amid stiff opposition by the BJP over the last month’s Cabinet decision. BJP has been expressing its resentment over the government’s move to close the Gadarpur sugar mill and run other four sugar mills on PPP mode and staged a massive dharna under the leadership of former chief minister B C Khanduri.
“A specialised agency of the central government will conduct a fresh survey on the health of sugar mills,” said the chief minister adding the Gadarpur mill will not be closed and other mills will also be not given on PPP mode.
Bahuguna said the government would pay all the remaining dues of farmers to the tune of Rs 96 crore before the commencement of the crushing season. Significantly, the chief minister, during his last review meeting of the sugarcane department on August 2 had decided to abolish the 2 per cent value-added tax (VAT) on sugar and waive off an accumulated loan of Rs 498.88 crore of all the six sugar mills in a desperate effort to remove their sickness.
“It is a big setback for the government as the PPP model was the best option before us to modernise these sugar mills,” said a top government official. The chief minister has gone on record saying the government cannot afford to spend Rs 100-200 crore to modernise the sugar mills.
