Pending civil works: Mill staff work in dilapidated building

VELLORE: The state government not filling the posts of civil engineers for eight sugar mills in the state has resulted in the lone occupant of that post in the Vellore Mill being unable to complete pending civil works, sources said.

The Vellore Cooperative Sugar Mill has its own building only for its divisional office at Kalavai in Ranipet district. Seven other such offices function from rented buildings.

The ‘own’ building is so dilapidated that the four inmates who occupy the building, especially when the mill starts crushing, work there in fear.

Mill chairman M Anandan said, the annual general body of the mill passed a resolution on November 20, 2020 to renovate the existing structure and also simultaneously sanctioned Rs 7.50 lakh for the work.

Sources said that repeated entreaties to the mill engineer to do the needful failed resulting in even top officials giving up.

“With heavy rain anticipated during the monsoon in a month’s time officials working in the building fear that it might collapse anytime,” sources said.

A senior official of the mill told DT Next, “Civil engineer posts in eight sugar mills remaining vacant has resulted in the Vellore mill engineer having to go to the other mills for civil work. This was the reason why pending civil work at Kalavai was not taken up.”

He said, “The engineer has gone to the Cheyyar Sugar mill to meet technical personnel from Chennai who have come there to draw up the estimation for the work after which it will be forwarded to the Chennai Sugar Commissioner for approval. Based on this work will start.”

Hence, the field staff at the Kalavai office are keeping their fingers crossed.