Goa: Sugarcane farmers stage protest; seek reopening sugar factory

Panaji, Jan 3 (IANS) Sugarcane farmers in Goa on Tuesday staged a protest demanding the reopening of a sugar factory which stopped operations in 2020.President of 'Goa Us Utpadan Sanghatana' (Sugarcane Producers association) Rajendra Desai told IANS that the government has failed to keep its promise of restarting operations of the sugar factory.In July last year, around 200 sugarcane farmers were detained by the police for blocking the national highway at Dharbandora in South Goa while seeking assurance on restarting operations of the lone sugar factory. "The government had promised us to restart the sugar factory then. But till today, no step has been taken by the government to restart operations," Desai said, adding there are more than 600 farmers dependent on sugarcane cultivation.He said that the sugarcane farmers from Maharashtra supported their protest and many of them were present on Tuesday.In 2020, the state government shut down the operations of the sugar factory and, since then, the local farmers have been selling their produce in the neighboring states.'Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana (Goa's only sugar factory) was set up in 1972.The sugar factory, however, went into losses in the last one decade, and 4 years ago, its operations were stopped.A plan was there to install a new plant. However, that has not come into reality yet.--IANSsbk/pgh

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