2 Sugar Mills in W Champaran unlikely to start sugarcane crushing season

Speed Post News Network

Bagaha :  Two Sugar Mills in West Champaran district are yet to dispose of their storage of molasses of around 6.65 lakh quintal of last season. As a result, Bagaha and Majhaulia Sugar factories are finding it extremely difficult to start sugarcane crushing season 2018-2019.

Sources said that Y S Bhatanagar General Manager (Personnel) of Tirupati Sugars, Bagaha, and Sunil Kumar Verma, General Manager (Sale), have separately informed the local administration as well as Sugarcane Industry  Department, Government of Bihar, that the factory management is unable to run the factory for coming crushing season due to failure of Excise Department to solve the problem of molasses storage. The sugar factory had earlier informed the sugarcane growers of the area about it.

Bhatanagar said that the factory had produced about 6.32 lakh quintal molasses last season (2017-2018) of which about 4.32 quintal of molasses were still stored in four steel tanks and three ditches as it could not supply the same anywhere in the absence of no objection certificate ( NOC) from Excise Department.

The management of Majhaulia Sugar factory says the factory had produced 3.37 quintal molasses but 2.33 lakh quintal molasses are still stored in the tanks.

A joint  inspection was done by Principal Secretary,  Prohibition and Excise, and Principal Secretary, Sugarcane  Industry Department, on July 25  last to solve the problems of molasses to facilitate payment of arrear of sugarcane farmers but of no avail so far. The factories are unable to supply molasses for producing animal food ( Pashu Aahar) and empty the molasses storage tanks for storing molasses for crushing season 2018-2019. Moreover, due to such huge quantity of molasses stored in kuchha pits in Bagaha is also creating pollution.

Taking all these factors into account, Bhatanagar said that the factory was constrained to inform  that it would not be possible to start the factory for coming sugarcane crushing season, which was expected to start after two month.

Meanwhile, P K Singh, Member, Zonal Development Council (ZDC), Bagaha, has said that the Government should immediately solve the matter as about 1.5 crore quintal sugarcane is expected to be produced for the coming season in Bagaha and about one crore quintal sugarcane under Majhaulia factory jurisdiction. Sugarcane is the only cash crop of the farmers of the region, he said.