Vellore mill paying dues ups interest among cane growers

Stating that the disbursal was due to the efforts of mill chairman M Anandan, the officials added that lorry crew were also paid more than Rs 55 lakh for ferrying cane to the mill from farms. This is in addition to the Special Advisory Price (SAP) dues for a year, which was released to farmers a few days ago. The amount was credited to farmers’ bank accounts by Tuesday evening, the officials added.

With news of the payment of dues spreading, farmers from Polur in neighbouring Tiruvannamalai district too reportedly requested the Vellore mill to take their unregistered cane. But mill officials pleaded helplessness citing that “the government has fixed specific areas for each mill from which even unregistered cane cannot be diverted to a mill of the farmer’s choice.”

Meanwhile, mill chairman Anandan said that “the Vellore mill has till date crushed 48,000 tonnes with sugar recovery increasing on a daily basis”. However, mechanical problems in the facility’s first mill had resulted in crushing slowing down as the unit could crush only 1700 tonnes daily against its installed capacity of 2500 TCD (Tonnes Crushed Daily). However, mill officials expressed happiness that sugar recovery saw a rise from 7.5% to 8.5% as on Tuesday.

While mentioning that crushing will be stopped for five days from Pongal day (Wednesday) for machine crew to rectify glitches, Anandan added that such stoppage for a few days in the midst of crushing is normal as the mill could develop mechanical issues as it runs round-the-clock. “The mill would revert to 2500 TCD once maintenance work is completed,” he added.