Palwal: It was expected that after spending Rs 12 crore on the Palwal based Cooperative sugar mill, its performance would increase. But the slow crushing has disappointed the sugarcane farmers.
According to the reports, the sugar output so far has been less than 10 per cent of the target achieved in the corresponding period last season.
The mill started crushing operations on December 12 and has so far crushed only 1.87 lakh quintal cane which is 21 per cent of the sugarcane crushed during the same period last year. The sugar recovery of the mill has slipped to 7.92 per cent from 9.84 per cent last year.
The breakdown in the mill which surfaced soon after crushing the commencement stalled mill for more than 417 hours is one of the reasons behind the underperformance. Last year the work was stopped for only 78.3 hours.
Local unit of Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) has launched dharna alleging the corruption in the functioning of the mill and has demanded action against those responsible for the delay in production. Ratan Singh Sorot, BKU leader, stated that the farmers are observing fast to protest the poor work of the mill.
