Harshavardhan Patil the state cooperation minister, has announced on Friday, that all the factories that haven't cleared their dues with the farmers should pay the amount within 15 days failing which they would have to face legal action. Patil said this while he was talking to the reporters on the issues of the district planning development committee meeting.

“23 sugar factories, 12 cooperative and 11 private, have dues to be paid according to the prices that were decided in November 2011. Sugar commissioner would take legal action if they fail to pay the dues in 15 days,” said Raghunathan Patil of Shetkari Sanghatana. 550 farmers were detained in the city on Thursday after they protested at Patil's residence against the dues that haven't been paid.

On a related note, Patil also mentioned that there were many factories which are involved in the sugarcane crushing without obtaining a license or a permit to do so. The current fines stand at Rs 1000 per day which is too small for the board of directors to bother. Patil said that government is looking forward to increasing the amount to Rs 10,000 or Rs 1 Lakh so that the factories would be more wary of making the mistakes.

16 factories were known to crush sugar without a license for doing so during the last crushing season that ended this June.

AW - Anil