Overview

• The state last week ordered a ₹10-per-tonne levy on sugarcane for the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and ₹5 per tonne for flood assistance.
• Devendra Fadnavis said mills will pay from profits, estimated about ₹25 lakh per mill, rejecting claims that farmers would be tapped.
• The chief minister alleged some mills under-reported cane tonnage and vowed accountability as part of the sector push.
• Sharad Pawar called the decision wrong and pressed for a review, as farm leaders Raju Shetti, Satej Patil and Rohit Pawar labeled it a financial burden.
• Government data cited FRP at ₹3,550 per metric tonne with 99.06% disbursed across roughly 200 mills, and an industry Governing Council meets on October 12.