Villupuram, Tamil Nadu: Cane crushing operations commenced at the Chengalrayan Co-operative Sugar Mill in Periyasevalai near Villupuram on Thursday, reported The Hindu.
Officials reported that the cooperative mill aims to crush around 4.25 lakh tonnes of sugarcane, cultivated across 13,845 acres. This includes 7,618 acres in the Villupuram district and 6,227 acres in the neighboring Kallakurichi district.
Farmers are set to receive ₹2,919 per tonne of cane during the crushing period. Inaugurating the cane-crushing activity, Minister for Higher Education K. Ponmudy said that to encourage members of the society, who had registered and crushed cane in the last crushing season of 2022-23, a support incentive of ₹195 a tonne was issued to each member. This incentive resulted in a total disbursement of ₹8.59 crore, directly credited to the accounts of members belonging to the sugar cooperative society.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Collector C. Palani, along with MLAs N. Pugazhenthi (Vikravandi) and A.J. Manikannan (Ulundurpet), underlining the significance of this event for the local community.
