The Union Government has taken penal action against 53 sugar mills for not furnishing details online about sugar production, dispatches and stock position of the 2011-12 season to the Food Ministry.
For better management of the sugar sector, the Government made online updation of sugar-related information operational from last year. Mills were asked to update details regularly.
“During the 2011-12 season (October-September), 527 sugar mills were engaged in cane crushing operation, out of these, 484 sugar mills have furnished up to date data, while the remaining 53 sugar mills have not yet submitted up to date online details despite repeated reminders,” an official release said. Due to failure on the part of 53 sugar mills, the Government penal action has been taken against 28 sugar mills in Maharashtra, nine mills in Karnataka, eight mills in Uttar Pradesh, five mills in Andhra Pradesh, two mills in Madhya Pradesh and one in Odisha, it said.
The online platform facilitates all sugar mills in the country to submit online data on sugarcane crushed, sugar production, dispatches and available stock of sugar.
This platform is expected to become the backbone in future for the management of sugar sector, the release added.
The country had produced 26 million tonnes of sugar in the last year, higher than the annual demand of 22 million tonnes.