Kolhapur/Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: At least 85 mills in the sugar cultivating belt of the state have already started cane crushing work this season as per the Maharashtra sugar commissionerate.
In recent weeks, concerns were rife about how lakhs of cane cutters — who travel far from their homes for harvesting work — would be able to vote in the assembly election on Wednesday.
But now, some sugar mills of Solapur, Dharashiv and some districts near Marathwada claim to have provided transport facilities to cutters to take them back to their respective villages to vote.
It is estimated that at minimum, nearly 60,000 sugar cane cutters have already started work, while others say this is a conservative figure.
Further, the Western India Sugar Mills Association (WISMA) also said most mills are likely to start work only after ballots are counted on Nov 23.
BB Thombare, president of WISMA, told TOI, "Some 25% of sugar mills have started work in full swing. Most others decided to start crushing only after vote counting. Contractors have been asked not to bring in cutters now. Those who arrived have been transported back home to vote. For instance, we had labourers arrive from Beed and Solapur but transported them back. Candidates of political parties also made arrangements to transport voters."
Most sugar mills in western Maharashtra are run by politicians, who have been busy with election work either for themselves or their contesting relatives.
However, others claim that lakhs of labourers — who have arrived from far-flung locations to work in the sugar cane belt of Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara — have missed voting.
The Maharashtra Shramik Ustodni Va Vahtuk Kamgar Sanghatana, an organization that helps in transportation of cutters — mainly from Marathwada to mills in the sugar belt of Maharashtra as well as other states like Karnataka, Gujarat and Telangana — claimed that nearly 70% of around 10 lakh harvesters have embarked upon their annual seasonal job.
Sanghatana president Haribhau Rathod said, "It is not true that all millers have provided transport to sugar cane cutters to return home for voting. Political elements and a few mills provided this aid, helping just about 5% of migrant workers return to their hometowns. Thousands of harvesters have missed the chance to vote."
Rathod had earlier moved a public interest litigation (PIL) in Bombay High Court, praying for the arrangement of postal ballots or official vehicles to bring cane cutters to their home constituencies to vote and then return to their workplace.
According to him, the lack of official data on cane cutters and their movement during crushing season lets millers make irrelevant claims.
Farmers' woes
Meanwhile, at some places in western Maharashtra, farmers are arranging for local labourers to cut cane and transport it to mills due to delays in the arrival of cutters from Marathwada.
Farmer Dattatray Maruti Jadhav from Bachni village of Karvir in Kolhapur district said, "The usual labourers have not yet reached. I have two acres of farmland. If there is delay in cutting, the weight of the cane reduces and causes loss of revenue to me. So, with the help of local workers, I have started harvesting and transporting sugar cane."
