Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has directed the Finance Department officials to examine an appeal for waiver of the electricity dues amounting to ₹52.25 crore by State-owned Mysuru Sugar Company Ltd., also known as Mysugar.
MLC Dinesh Gooligowda, who had urged the State government to waive the electricity bill dues of Mysugar given its poor financial condition, said Mr. Siddaramaiah had asked the Additional Chief Secretary to the Department of Finance, Government of Karnataka, to examine the matter and bring it before the Cabinet.
Mr Gooligowda said Mysugar had not paid its electricity bills for the last 25 years and has an outstanding bill of ₹52.25 crore to be paid to Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC) Limited.
CESC had also served a notice to the General Manager of Mysugar that it will disconnect power supply to the factory if it does not clear its outstanding electricity bill. The CESC’s threat to disconnect electricity came weeks ahead of the scheduled start of crushing operations by the sugar factory.
However, Mr. Dinesh Gooligowda said Mysugar, which was in a poor financial condition, would not be able to crush sugarcane during the ensuing season if spends such a huge sum of money on clearing the electricity dues.
But, a large number of sugarcane farmers of the region are relying on Mysugar to crush their sugarcane.
However, a Cabinet decision is required for waiving the electricity dues of Mysugar, he said.
Crushing operations at Mysugar had been suspended for a few years but revived only last year after the Congress government took a keen interest in the matter, Mr. Gooligowda claimed. The sugar factory resumed operations only after the Congress government sanctioned ₹50 crore including ₹35 crore as working capital.
Due to the financial assistance of the government, Mysugar could crush about 2.41 lakh tonnes of sugarcane last year. This year, the factory plans to crush another 2.5 lakh tonnes, he said while making out a case for the waive of the electricity dues of the sugar factory for the benefit of sugarcane farmers of the region.
