Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Thursday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with a delegation and demanded raise in the export quota of the sugar from the current five lakh metric tonnes to 20 lakh metric tonnes.
Delegation also wanted imposition of stiff duties on the import of the sweetener.
Chavan was accompanied by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Union Ministers Vilasrao Deshmukh and Prateek Patil, ministers of the state government Harshvardhan Patil, Jayant Patil, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Prakash Solankhe, former minister Vijaysinh Mohite Patil among others.
The delegation told the Prime Minister that Maharashtra would have surplus sugar upto 40 lakh metric tonnes ahead of the new season, which is set to witness a bumper sugarcane produce.
The leaders wanted the Centre to hike the import duty on sugar from the current 20 per cent to 60 per cent to discourage import of the sweetener.
Also, they pointed out that the state was short of storage space for sugar and nearly 15 lakh tonne was stored in the open.
