Madurai: Madurai MP Su Venkatesan on Sunday, while taking part in the ongoing protest by sugarcane farmers in Alanganallur, urged Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin to immediately take steps to resume the crushing operations for the year 2021-2022 at the National Co-operative Sugar Mill in Alanganallur as that it is the only such co-operative sugar mill catering to southern districts of Tamil Nadu.
For the past 13 days, sugarcane farmers have been staging an indefinite protest demanding to allot Rs 10 crore to the mill for maintenance work and to resume crushing operations after the mill has been non-functional for the past two years. “CM, who has allowed for the co-operative sugar mills in Palacode and Tirupattur to be functional, must also ensure that the co-operative sugar mill in Alanganallur must also become functional. Livelihood of workers and sugarcane farmers depends on it,” said Venkatesan. The MP further said that CPI (M) state secretary K Balakrishnan has also met with the CM regarding the demand.
Su Venkatesan also pointed out that the mill can be made to function in a profitable manner if the co-generation power plant at the mill is also made operational along with starting ethanol production.
Tamil Nadu sugarcane farmers’ association state president, N Palanisamy, who is leading the protest, noted that this year, 1,850 acres of sugarcane has been registered for crushing at the mill and 60,000 tonnes of sugarcane is in the area of the mill. “Farmers are also ready to provide around 17,000 tonnes of sugarcane that are not registered for crushing. It will ensure continuous running of the mill,” he added.tnn
The above news was originally posted on timesofindia.indiatimes.com
