Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday held a meeting in a virtual mode with the management of the state-owned Mysuru Sugar Factory to discuss the renovation of the factory and measures to recover it from losses.
Co-operative Minister ST Somashekhar, state chief secretary Ravikumar and other senior officials were present in the meeting.
Earlier, the state government had halted the move to privatise the factory.
Congress Legislative Party leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday participated in a protest held at the Farmers' Protection Committee in Mandya, demanding that Karnataka retain ownership of the historical Mysuru Sugar Company Limited Factory.
"The Mysore sugar factory is the only government-owned sugar mill in the state which has a total of 65 sugar factories. Therefore, I demand that the factory be kept in the state's possession without being privatized," said Siddaramaiah participating in the Dharani Satyagraha.
Founded by Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar in the pre-independence era, the Mysugar Sugar Factory which been in profit for many years and has subsequently suffered losses. Siddaramaiah said that the government and not the farmers is responsible for the loss and the onus lies on the government to revive it.
"So many state-owned factories and companies are now at a loss. The government must find out what causes the loss and revive them," the former chief minister said.JD(S) MLA Annadani had in the state Parliament session asked the government about the Mysugar sugar factory. "I then intervened and urged the Speaker to allow at least half an hour of discussion as this was an important issue. At my insistence, the Chairperson allowed the debate in the session. I also brought to the notice of the government several factors and urged the factory to be retained by the government," Sidaramaiah said.
"At first, the government-appointed managing director had no interest in the factory. How about the factory getting back on track? When I was the chief minister, the factory had 145 crore funds to save factory.
( With inputs from ANI )
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