Farmers affiliated to Tamil Nadu Cane Growers Association staged a “waiting protest” by making gruel on the premises of National Cooperative Sugar Mills at Alanganallur in the district seeking to commence crushing at the factory, on Tuesday.
Led by its State president, N. Palaniswami, the farmers complained that they were not willing for diversion of cane to mills to other districts.
“Last year, when 40,000 tonnes of cane was diverted to three different government and cooperative mills, payment to the tune of ₹ 1.5 crore was not made to the farmers till date,” he complained.
Besides, the farmers had faced practical problems in transporting canes to far-off places.
“Whereas in local areas, the canes transported from the field are immediately unloaded at the factory, it took at least five days for the unloading at other factories,” he complained.
Farmers there insisted that priority should be given to the local produce and not to those brought from Madurai. It had complicated the issue in more than one ways.
Firstly, the farmers faced loss of weight in their produce as the cane gets dry during the waiting period. Secondly, the truck are unnecessarily detained on the factory premises for days together and they demand rent for those detained days too.
When that is denied, out of frustration, the trucks do not come back to the fields here for transportation.
“As a result farmers here had to destroy cane grown on 2,000 acres,” Mr. Palaniswami claimed.
While the crushing season begins during January-end, an official said that availability of a meagre 30,000 tonnes of cane in the cane area of Alanganallur mills – covering Madurai and parts of Virudhunagar and Dindigul districts – will make further push the mills to huge loss.
The official hoped that crushing can be started in January 2022 if at least 70,000 tonnes are available. The mill has a capacity to crush 5 lakh tonnes in a season.
With release of first instalment of ₹ 5.93 crore for settling dues to the farmers, the association sought that the payment should be made through cheques to the farmers to enable them to start plantation.
“With the Government having made huge investment on co-generation on the mill premises, commencing crushing here will be the best decision for all,” Mr. Palaniswami said.