K’shetra cane growers in a fix as Shahbad sugar mill stops ops

KARNAL: Thousands of sugarcane growers associated with the Shahbad Cooperative Sugar Mill in Kurukshetra are facing tough time selling their produce since the administration stopped the crushing operations after a 52-year-old mill employee was found infected on May 1.

The mill was yet to crush over 6 lakh quintals or around 2,000 acres of sugarcane.

A senior government official familiar with the development said the sugarcane harvesting was in the last phase. “Earlier, the management of the Shahbad sugar mill had made a pact with two private mills in Yamunanagar and Karnal’s Bhadson for the procurement of the remaining produce,” he added.

Saraswati Sugarmill of Yamunanagar has agreed to crush 3 lakh quintals of sugarcane of farmers associated with the Shahbad mill, but the management of Bhadson mill later refused to do so. Now, the remaining produce has been allocated to the cooperative sugar mill in Kaithal. The development has left the farmers worried as it will increase their transportation cost and the government is yet to announce any financial assistance. “The development has delayed the harvesting as it will not only affect the yield, but also put extra burden on us as we would have to travel 85km extra to sell our produce in Yamunanagar,” said Krishan Kumar, a farmer from Deeg village in Kurukshetra.

Managing director of Shahbad Cooperative Sugar Mill Sushil Kumar said, “We have made arrangements for the remaining 6 lakh quintals of sugarcane with the nearby mills. But, as of now, there is no discussion to compensate the farmers for selling their produce to other mills,” he added.

The Yamunanagar mill has crushing capacity of around 1 lakh quintal per day and it could crush the entire produce by May 15. But, Kaithal cooperative mill capacity is around 25,000 quintals per day.