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Sale of Chittoor Co-op Sugar Mill approved

Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad

An Andhra Pradesh Cabinet panel has approved the sale of Chittoor Cooperative Sugar Mill to the highest bidder -- Srinivasa Distilleries Limited -- for a bid amount of Rs 18 crore (Rs 180 million).

An official statement from the Implementation Secretariat said Srinivasa Distilleries' bid was accepted since the second bidder Rythu Raja Sugars had offered only Rs 13.18 crore (Rs 131.8 million).

With the sale of Chittoor Cooperative Sugar mill, the state government has sold seven cooperative sugar mills during the last one year. These include Sri Hanuman Mill at Hanuman Junction, ASM Mill, Palakole, Nagarjuna Mill, Gurazala, Nandyal Mill, Nandyal, Palair Mill, Palair and Venkateswara Cooperative Sugar Mill, Renigunta.

The government has also sold six units of the state-owned Nizam Sugars Limited. The sale of all these sugar mills has fetched Rs 175 crore (Rs 1.75 billion) to the state exchequer.

While the cooperative sugar mills privatised so far had accumulated losses of Rs 128 crore (Rs 1.28 billion), the Nizam Sugars Limited had run up cumulative loss of Rs 177 crore (Rs 1.77 billion) as in September 2000.

The Implementation Secretariat of the Public Enterprises Department advertised the sale of five more cooperative sugar mills in August 2002. The mills on sale include those at Jampani, Amadalavalasa, Anakapalle, Nizamabad and Kovvur. The last date for submitting bids is September 11 and these units are expected to be privatised before the commencement of sugarcane crushing season in October/ November this year.

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