MAHARASHTRA A Sugar Co-operative and Its Environs Amrita Abraham ONE of the proud achievements of the Shetkari Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana in Sangli, the co-operative sugar factory started by chief minister Vasant- rao Patil in 1956, is the acreage that has been brought under sugarcane as a result of lift irrigation schemes it has promoted and financed. At the start, out of the approximately 1,500 acres of the command area of the factory, less than ten per cent was irrigated by river water, the rest by well water. Today the command area has increased to cover 40,000 acres in Sangli and Kolhapur districts and, after an expenditure of Rs 1.25 crore, half this land has been covered by lift irrigation schemes from three rivers, the Krishna, the Warna and the Verala.