Tamil Nadu : Farmers of Virudhunagar, Tenkasi districts do not want to send cane to Dharani Sugars
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/farmers-of-virudhunagar-tenkasi-districts-do-not-want-to-send-cane-to-dharani-sugars/article68790344.ece
Raising suspicion over Dharani Sugars in Tenkasi district resuming cane crushing operation soon as promised, Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam has expressed apprehension over farmers of Virudhunagar and Tenkasi districts facing huge loss by way of forfeiting State Advised Price (SAP) due to failure of registration of their produce. The association has sought the intervention of Director of Sugar for allowing the farmers to register their produce and send them to alternative sugar factories — Sakthi Sugars in Sivaganga and Rajshree Sugars in Theni district — for crushing. In his petition, association president N. A. Ramachandra Raja said that Dharani Sugars in Vasudevanallur had stopped its operation in 2021 which led to the State Government to divert the cane from Virudhunagar and Tenkasi districts to the other two sugar mills.
“We have been sending some 1,000 tonnes of sugarcane to those two sugar mills after registering our cane with them for the last three years,” Mr. Ramachandra Raja said. Meanwhile, Dharani Sugars in June 2024 promised to settle the arrears of ₹22 crore due to the farmers by November 2024 and resume its operation. “With this promise, Dharani Sugars has made the other two sugar factories to wind up their operations in Tenkasi and Virudhunagar districts by September 2024. Those factories have cancelled the registration of cane they had made in the past with the farmers of the two districts . However, Dharani Sugars has, so far, paid only 50% of the arrears to the farmers,” he said. Expressing concern over the failure of Dharani Sugars to keep up its promises, the association has pointed out that no steps has been taken by the factory to pay the arrears to the farmers before resuming cane crushing operation Similarly, the factory management has not taken any steps to take up maintenance work of the machineries that are lying defunct for the past four years, to resume crushing.
“The factory is in a pitiable situation and has been unable to pay salary to its employees for the last two months, we fear how the factory is going to resume crushing operation as promised,” Mr. Ramachandra Raja said. The association said the cane cultivated in both the districts were ready for cutting. “But, we are in a confused state as to where to send the cane for crushing,” he said. This would lead to stagnation of cane as happened in the past, the farmers fear. In this backdrop, the farmers have sought the State Government to allow their produce to be registered by sugar mills in Sivaganga and Theni districts for the current crushing season. “We are very particular about registration of cane, to become eligible to get the State Administrative Price of ₹260 per tonne of cane supplied to the factories,” Mr. Ramachandra Raja said. The farmers may be allowed to register their cane with Dharani Sugars in the next season provided the factory settled all the arrears to the farmers and complete maintenance work of the machineries, he added. The farmers said that they have explained their demands to the Collectors of Virudhunagar and Tenkasi districts.
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