Ranipet ryots worried on cane diversion to Cheyyar sugar mill

RANIPET: Cane farmers in Arakkonam, Sholingur and Nemili taluks in Ranipet district attached to the Tiruttani Cooperative Sugar Mill at Tiruvalangadu in Tiruvallur district are a worried lot.

The farmers are apprehensive that their cane might be diverted to the Cheyyar Cooperative Sugar Mill in Tiruvannamalai district as crushing will stop by April 18 at the Tiruttani unit, which has crushed 1.90 lakh tonnes of cane till date, but another 10,000 tonnes remain to be crushed.

“It will be impossible to crush the final 10,000 tonnes by the mill which due to its age will be difficult to restart once it halts operations. Hence, the balance cane may be diverted to the Cheyyar mill,” sources said.

However, affected cane producers recall the resistance by Cheyyar mill-affiliated farmers, who demanded to know why outside cane was being crushed when storcks from Cheyyar itself were waiting for their turn.

The Tiruttani mill being old (1982) has resulted in sugar recovery averaging 8.2% while the Vellore mill averages 10% with a high of nearly 11%.

The Tiruttani mill has now approached National Cooperative Development Corporation(NCDC) for a Rs 168-crore loan to modernise the facility as the State government promised to sign as the loan guarantor.

The original modernisation proposal of Rs 37 crore by the then Jayalalithaa government in 2017 was put on the back burner resulting in the cost escalating to Rs.168 crore now, sources alleged.

Tiruttani mill officials said that they would be happy if the cane was diverted to the Vellore unit.

Vellore mill chairman M Anandan said the mill, which has now crushed more than 2.10 lakh tonnes, was willing to accept even 2,000 tonnes daily from the Tiruttani unit.

“We have issued notices to Vellore mill farmers that crushing will stop on April 13 to ensure that they expedite supplies to the mill. But the mill will be able to continue crushing for another week. If we get additional stocks from Tiruttani we will continue crushing till the end of April,” Anandan added.