Poll shadow over sugar season; millers, workers differ over start date

On Tuesday, Bhairavnath B Thombare, chairman of the Western Indian Sugar Mills Association (WISMA), wrote to the state government, asking it to ensure the crushing season starts on November 15. Earlier, the Maharashtra State Cooperative Sugar Factories Federation had also pointed out that any delay in the start of the season would be disastrous for the sector. The federation has said if the start of the season is delayed to November-end, mills will not be able to supply ethanol as per their contract with the oil marketing companies for the month of November.

WISMA, which is the body of private sugar mills in the state, also said delay in starting of the season would see large-scale migration of harvesting labour to states like Karnataka and Gujarat, which would put Maharashtra’s industry in crisis.

Drawn mainly from Beed, Ahmednagar, Amravati and Jalgaon districts, harvesting labourers come to the sugar mills at the start of the season. With elections round the corner, concerns have been raised on whether the workers would be able to vote in the elections. Given the fact that 5-6 lakh harvesting workers migrate ahead of the crushing season, their absence from their constituencies can cause problems.

Jeevan Rathod of Beed, who has moved the Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court to ensure voting rights to the workers, said already 30 per cent of harvesting workers from Beed has gone to other states. “We want the state government to ensure the workers are able to vote. So the only solution would be to push back the crushing date by five days,” he said.