The strike which was called by the seven unions representing sugarcane workers was withdrawn after talks were held with the Nationalist Congress Party chief and Vasantdada Sugar Institute chairman Sharad Pawar. Sugarcane workers, transporters, Maharashtra State Co-operative Sugar Factories Federation authorities took part in the meeting, also attended the former minister and BJP leader Pankaja Munde. The strike was called off after an assurance of 14% hike in the wages and increase in commission to 19% from 18.5% paid to the Mukadam .
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Sharad Pawar post-meeting has tweeted, "A meeting with outfits of sugarcane workers and sugarcane transporters over the various demands took place and a decision to increase wages by 14 per cent has been taken". A 3 year contract will be made with sugar factories for the wage hike. The workers were satisfied with the hike and resume work this season, sugarcane harvesting starts on November 3. The 14% wage hike would bring an outflow of INR 300-350 crore for sugar factories, informed Jayprakash Dandegaonkar, chairperson of Maharashtra State Co-operative Sugar Factories.
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The crushing season involves 10 lakh to 14 lakh sugarcane workers participation every year. This year, it ios reported that Maharashtra has 900 lakh tonnes of sugarcane available for crushing and the state is expected to produce 101 lakh tonnes of sugar. The state government encourages sugar mills to go for ethanol production, which is estimated to be 108 crore litre, after diversion to ethanol production 92 Lakh tonnes of sugar will be produced.
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