Cane crushing starts on a bitter note in Vellore

Contrary to the usual practice of the Collector inaugurating the crushing season by throwing cane stalks onto the huge conveyor belt after the requisite poojas, sources said this time it was the Vellore DRO who inaugurated the crushing in the presence of Vellore MP DM Kathir Anand. No poojas were performed before the start of crushing as was usually followed. Poojas were conducted later after the VIPs left, official sources revealed.

The issue started when mill officials handed over the invitation to Collector Kumaravel Pandian. Based on the practice of the last 10 years the invitation just stated that the recipient was invited for the crushing inauguration in the presence of Ministers, MPs, MLAs, the Mill’s board of directors and officials.

Sources revealed that Kumaravel Pandian returned the invitation and asked Mill MD A Sankar to meet Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan in this regard. The latter ordered that issue of invitations be stopped. Sankar was asked to go to Chennai to meet top department officials about this ‘slight.’

Later, Duraimurugan wanted to know why he was not consulted about the crushing date and when the MD replied that based on regular practice, cane farmers were consulted on the crushing date. Finally Duraimurugan gave his nod to start crushing on Thursday, sources said.

Officials were taken aback at this turn of events as already crushing was delayed by more than a month due to the turbine in the mill’s co-generation plant developing problems. The repairs were carried at a cost of Rs 2 crore recently.

Sources revealed that the issue was because the Mill’s board of directors was from the AIADMK.