Less than a week after Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde announced a ban on fresh guarantees to cooperative factories, the Maharashtra government has issued guarantees to two cooperative factories for loan of Rs 9.60 crore.Expectedly, the factories are linked to two bigwigs in the ruling camp. First from the Congress — Shivajirao Patil Nilangekar Cooperative Sugar Factory, named after the Revenue Minister himself. Second, in the name of NCP chief Sharad Pawar called Sharad Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana. It is promoted by Shamrao Patil Yadravkar, and NCP leader from Kolhapur. The factories want to borrow Rs 4.80 crore each from the district cooperative banks.When contacted, Shinde said the proposals had been cleared by the previous Cabinet and he cannot review the decision. ‘‘It is a previous commitment. How can I cancel that?’’ he defended.However, an official from the Finance Department said the government is under no obligation to meet previous commitments. ‘‘The defence of the government that it is granting permission to only those proposals in the pipeline does not hold water. The pipeline is not closed from the other end and the proposals are always based on political considerations,’’ remarked the official.
