Sugarcane crushing operations for the year 2023-24 are all set to begin at the state-owned Mysore Sugar company or Mysugar factory in Mandya near here from June 30.
Mysugar’s Managing Director Patil Appa Saheb said the machinery and equipment at the factory were ready for crushing operations while arrangements were in place for deployment of labourers to start the process of harvesting sugarcane.
“All arrangements have been made to crush the sugarcane within 24 hours of its harvesting,” he said.
A total of 3,500 labourers will be deployed for harvesting sugarcane in the region. While a 1,000 of them have been locally enlisted, another 1,000 had come from Ballari and 500 each from Maharashtra, Vijayapura and Jharkhand, he said.
‘Choose Mysugar over private factories’
Mr. Patil said the sugar factory will clear the bills of farmers within 14 days of supplying sugarcane. He appealed to the farmers to provide quality sugarcane to Mysugar factory instead of supplying the same to private sugar factories in the region.
The State government had released a financial assistance of ₹50 crore to Mysugar to start crushing operations, he said, adding that there was no shortage of funds at present. He said the financial condition of Mysugar would be improved by selling the 18,000 quintals of sugar stock in the factory.
It may be mentioned here that the 90-year-old sugar factory started by Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar in 1933 had suspended its operations since the last few years due to various problems including mounting losses. However, it was revived last year by the erstwhile Basavaraj Bommai government, which even announced a ₹50 crore grant.
Competitive prices assured
Earlier this month, Congress MLC Dinesh Gooligowda said sugarcane had been cultivated in more than 10,000 hectares of land falling in the jurisdiction of Mysugar while 5,745 farmers had agreed to supply more than 5 lakh tonnes of sugarcane to Mysugar.
However, he said the sugar factory had received only ₹32 crore out of the ₹50 crore announced by the erstwhile BJP government and appealed to the newly-elected Congress government to announced a financial aid of another ₹50 crore for crushing operations to start at the sugar factory.
After the State government released ₹50 crore for starting the crushing operations at Mysugar, Minister for Agriculture N. Cheluvarayaswamy, who is also the Minister in-charge of Mandya district, called upon farmers to supply sugarcane to Mysugar and assured them competitive prices.
He said the government would give the price that is offered by private sugar factories and called upon farmers to have faith in the government.
