Infuse funds and resurrect Alanganallur sugar mill, say cane farmers

Infuse funds and resurrect Alanganallur sugar mill, say cane farmers

Scores of farmers, who took out a march towards Madurai Collectorate from Alanganallur, seeking funds for resuming operation of the National Cooperative Sugar Mills at Alanganallur, were stopped by Madurai District Police at Achchampatti on Monday.

After some tense moments for a brief period when a huge posse of police blocked them, the farmers, affiliated to Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers’ Association, agreed to give up the march and reached the Collectorate in vehicles.

The protest was led by the association’s State president, N. Palanisamy. He said that crushing was not taken up at the mill for the last three seasons. The government claimed that the mill required ₹10 crore for maintenance of the machinery. However, the funds had not been released till date to take up the maintenance work.

The cooperative sugar mill had over 5,000 acres of cane area in Madurai and Dindigul districts. “Now, the sugarcane cultivated in this cane area is being diverted to private sugar mills which offered lower prices for the cane,” he said.

Besides the issue of underweighing, the private mills were paying at least ₹300 less for each tonne of cane compared to the price offered by the cooperative mill, he said. Stating that farmers were losing money on this count. he said non- resumption of the mill operation had led to cane farmers switching over to cultivation of other crops.

The farmers handed over a petition to Collector M.S. Sangeetha.

Mr. Palanisamy said the farmers would intensify their protest if efforts were not made to start crushing operation at the earliest.