The sugar industry in Maharashtra is currently facing a storm of controversy as Raju Shetti, a prominent leader of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana and a former Member of Parliament, has leveled serious accusations against local sugar mills. During a high-stakes meeting with Sugar Commissioner Dr. Sanjay Kolte, Shetti argued that the foundation of the state’s agricultural economy is being undermined by systemic dishonesty. He alleges that many sugar mills are cooking their books, submitting fraudulent reports to the Commissioner’s office regarding pending Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) payments. By misrepresenting these figures, the mills are effectively insulating themselves from accountability while leaving thousands of sugarcane farmers in a state of financial uncertainty. Shetti has demanded that the administration stop treating these discrepancies as mere clerical errors and instead initiate criminal proceedings against the operators involved.
At the heart of the dispute is the fundamental right of farmers to receive fair compensation for their harvest. Shetti pointed out a glaring inconsistency between the figures reported by the mills and the actual amounts owed to the farming community. Beyond just the principal dues, he emphasized that the current “phased payment” system—which allows mills to break FRP payments into multiple installments over years—has caused significant hardship. He is now demanding that any mill that delayed payments over the past three years must pay interest to the farmers. To him, this isn’t just about accounting; it is about recognizing that when a farmer is denied their payment on time, they lose the ability to invest in their own livelihoods, making the mills’ delays a direct tax on the agrarian sector.
In an era of rapid technological advancement, Shetti is pushing for modern solutions to age-old corruption. He argued that the current manual or semi-automated systems at weighbridges are rife with opportunities for manipulation. By insisting that all weighbridges be linked via Artificial Intelligence (AI), he envisions a transparent, real-time system where data cannot be tampered with to cheat farmers on the weight of their cane. Furthermore, he highlighted a specific, disturbing trend in the Marathwada region, where alleged fraud related to “sugar recovery percentages” has left many growers feeling robbed. He has demanded a specialized investigation mechanism to scrutinize these recovery claims, ensuring that farmers are not being shortchanged by mills that artificially lower recovery rates to pay less.
Transparency is the core theme of Shetti’s advocacy, particularly regarding the internal records of the mills. He has formally requested that the government publish a list of all farmers who have recorded deliveries of more than 500 tonnes of sugarcane during the crushing season. While this may seem like an unusual request, Shetti argues it is a vital tool for social auditing. By making these high-volume records public, it becomes much harder for mill owners to create “ghost accounts” or falsify entries to launder money or hide fraudulent cane crushing records. This level of public scrutiny, he believes, would force mills to operate with a degree of honesty that has been missing for far too long, providing a deterrent against the unchecked power of the sugar lobby.
The argument for fairness extends to the current market conditions. Shetti notes that with sugar and by-product prices surging in both domestic and international markets, the sugar mills are seeing record profits. It is only logical, he asserts, that this prosperity be shared with the people who grow the crop. He is demanding an immediate additional payment of Rs 300 per tonne for farmers, treating it as a rightful share of the current market windfall. Furthermore, he took a firm stance on national policy, urging the Central Government to refrain from importing sugar. Given that India holds adequate domestic stocks, he argues that importing sugar would only serve to crash local prices, further devastating the farmers who are already struggling to secure their current dues.
Finally, Shetti did not shy away from the political dimensions of this fight, directing pointed criticism toward Maharashtra’s Cooperation Minister, Babasaheb Patil. His rhetoric highlights a deep-seated distrust in the current regulatory environment, suggesting that the conflict of interest is too great to ignore. When it is alleged that the Cooperation Minister’s own sugar mill is among those failing to pay farmers, the entire premise of government oversight becomes questionable. By calling out the administration’s proximity to the industry it is meant to regulate, Shetti is raising a broader question about governance in Maharashtra: can the system ever truly protect the farmers when those in power are also the ones signing the checks? With this confrontation, the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana has placed the ball firmly in the court of the state administration, demanding a move from rhetoric to accountability.