Margao: Goa Forward Party president Vijai Sardesai has taken exception to the government terming as “new” the cabinet decision taken on Wednesday to shift the Sanjivani sugar factory from the control of the cooperation department to the agriculture department.
“It’s an attempt to package old wine in a new bottle. This decision was taken during the cabinet meeting held on February 18, 2019, when I was the agriculture minister — the last cabinet meeting chaired by Manohar Parrikar at his residence,” Sardesai said while addressing reporters.
Expressing his satisfaction over the chief minister’s announcement, Sardesai questioned the delay of 19 months in going ahead with the decision. “Chief minister Pramod Sawant wasn’t in the cabinet then, but that cannot be an excuse for him being ignorant of the decision taken in that meeting. Even Sanguem MLA Prasad Gaonkar, who was then championing the cause of sugarcane farmers, had welcomed the decision,” he said.
Explaining the reasoning that went into the decision then, Sardesai said, “The factory was in ICU then. For it to be revived, it was required that a new factory be set up. We had intended to avail of the benefits of the National Agriculture Development Scheme that provides (substantial) grants for such purpose. However, the government headed by Pramod Sawant slept over this decision for the last 19 months, and let the factory slip into a comatose stage.”
He said that the turf war between cooperation minister Govind Gaude and agriculture minister Chandrakant Kavalekar over assuming control of the factory led to the delay in implementation of the cabinet decision.
“During this phase of tug of war between the two, the poor sugarcane farmer suffered. Today, nobody is in a position to speak on the prospects of sugarcane farmers of Goa,” Sardesai said.
He warned against moves from certain quarters of having an eye on the land belonging to the Sanjeevani sugar factory.
“It’s an attempt to package old wine in a new bottle. This decision was taken during the cabinet meeting held on February 18, 2019, when I was the agriculture minister — the last cabinet meeting chaired by Manohar Parrikar at his residence,” Sardesai said while addressing reporters.
Expressing his satisfaction over the chief minister’s announcement, Sardesai questioned the delay of 19 months in going ahead with the decision. “Chief minister Pramod Sawant wasn’t in the cabinet then, but that cannot be an excuse for him being ignorant of the decision taken in that meeting. Even Sanguem MLA Prasad Gaonkar, who was then championing the cause of sugarcane farmers, had welcomed the decision,” he said.
Explaining the reasoning that went into the decision then, Sardesai said, “The factory was in ICU then. For it to be revived, it was required that a new factory be set up. We had intended to avail of the benefits of the National Agriculture Development Scheme that provides (substantial) grants for such purpose. However, the government headed by Pramod Sawant slept over this decision for the last 19 months, and let the factory slip into a comatose stage.”
He said that the turf war between cooperation minister Govind Gaude and agriculture minister Chandrakant Kavalekar over assuming control of the factory led to the delay in implementation of the cabinet decision.
“During this phase of tug of war between the two, the poor sugarcane farmer suffered. Today, nobody is in a position to speak on the prospects of sugarcane farmers of Goa,” Sardesai said.
He warned against moves from certain quarters of having an eye on the land belonging to the Sanjeevani sugar factory.
