Southern Maharashtra Sugar mills not able to start operations before Diwali.
Ram Gopal Yadav (9 years ago)

Sugar mills from southern Maharashtra may not be able to start operations before Diwali, even as the industry and government are preparing for advance sugarcane crushing operations by a month to October to tide over any shortages during the festival season. Mills in the region comprising Sangli, Satara and Kolhapur account for the biggest share in sugar production of Maharashtra, the leading producer in the country. Region gets a few spells of heavy rainfall around Dussehra (which falls on September 30), which makes harvesting difficult due to wet fields. The migrating harvesting labour does not start from their villages before Diwali. Thus, mills from Kolhapur will begin crushing only after Diwali (October 19).