Desai told The Indian Express that rough estimates put such pending amount from sugar factories in the excess of Rs 500 crores. Of such a huge amount, sugar co-operatives owe Rs 275 crores to the Government of Maharashtra, followed by pending dues which the co-operatives owe to its members and salaries of its employees. The dues in the later two categories constitute a sum of nearly Rs 225 crores, he added.

"Recovery from the working co-operatives will only enable the State to fund the new sugar factories on a priority basis. Hence, a proposal will be submitted the Chief Minister Narayan Rane to adopt a tough stand, and implement compulsory recovery even if it means freezing of bank accounts,'' he told this newspaper.

Most of the factories which owe huge sums to government are from Ahmednagar, Marathwada and Vidarbha regions, he said citing an example of a unit which had not paid salaries of its employees to the tune of Rs 7 crores. To recover its dues, the government also started 23 sick units from Marathwada and Vidarbha, in the last year to check whether such a move would be able to generate funds, which later on could be paid the government, he said.

Certain harsh measures pertaining to sugar co-operatives will have to be taken in this year, in order to fund new units. The consecutive Congress governments in the State had aided various co-operatives to raise their share capital. Congress-ruled governments were unable to recover the funds , which led to its accumulation to the tune of Rs 275 crores, he said.