The severe crisis of drinking water in Marathwada and Latur reflects in sugarcane cultivation which has gone down by 50 and 57 per cent respectively as compared to last year.
The crushing season for the year 2015-16 has come to an end and out of 177 sugar factories, 168 have completed crushing of the canes brought to the factory and have closed the crushing season. This year till April 19, 2016, the state recorded crushing of 739 lakh metric tonne of sugarcane which has yielded sugar to the tune of 83.5 lakh tonne with recovery of 11.29 per cent.
Officials from the cooperative department informed that last year on the same day (April 19, 2015), the state had recorded crushing of 901 lakh metric tonne with sugar production of 101 lakh tonne. After all the sugar factories completed crushing last year, total cane which was crushed was 929 lakh metric tonne and 105 lakh tonne of sugar was produced.
This year the sugar production is likely to be less by 20 per cent, while next year it is going to go down further and it would be less by 40 per cent compared to 2014-15. The official informed that this year there is rise in crushing of cane in Pune and Kolhapur, but in Marathwada crushing has come down by 50 per cent since there is no water available for sugarcane. He informed that the Latur which is facing worst ever drought and water scarcity situation has recorded 57 per cent less sugar cane crushing this season.
Govt mulls over getting water fro Dudhana dam
The state government is considering the option of bringing additional water train from Dudhana dam and the train would be coming via Partur which is relatively less distance than Miraj. The state government has demanded for additional Water Trai and official request has been made to Railway department. Latur, which has been facing worst situation with respect to water availability, is being provided with water by train from Miraj. While Miraj is 350km away from Latur, Dudhana via Partur is at 290km from Latur and department of rehabilitation is considering bringing water from Dudhna to Latur via Partur.
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