3 Dinajpur sugar mills fail to attain targets

The three old mills grind to a halt on Thursday, failing to reach half of their targets, which will incur a total loss of about Tk 15 crore, sources in the mills said.

Besides shortfall in sugarcane supply, old machinery is another cause for failure to reach targets, they said. The mills had started production in November.

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The Shetabganj Sugar Mill had fixed a target to produce 10,140 tonnes of sugar from 1,30,000 tonnes of sugarcane this year.

But it produced 5,155 tonnes of sugar by crushing 57,875 tonnes of sugarcane. Its estimated loss is about Tk 7 crore, officials said.

But other sources claimed that 8 to 10 thousand tonnes of sugarcane were piled up on its compound when the production was stopped.

The Thakurgaon Sugar Mill, set up in 1958, had a target to produce 11,700 tonnes of sugar from 1,50,000 tonnes of sugarcane. It produced 5,445 tonnes of sugar from 77,598 tonnes of sugarcane.

Its officials however admitted that the mill was stopped with about 12,000 tonnes of sugarcane left uncrushed.

When contacted, Md Abul Kashem, Managing Director of 45 year-old Thakurgaon Sugar Mill, said the mill's crushing capacity decreased over the years because of old machinery. There has not been any overhauling since long, he said.

Production in both Shetabganj and Thakurgaon sugar mills was interrupted several times during the crushing season because of old machinery, sources said.

It was gathered that farmers were not interested to supply sugarcane to the mills because they pay Tk 41 to Tk 45 per maund against Tk 50-55 offered by molasses producers.

Besides, there are irregularities in getting purjee (permit) for sale of sugarcane to mills. A strong network of middlemen, in connivance with a section of mill officials, control the permits, they alleged.

Many of the farmers this correspondent talked to said there should be an inquiry into the irregularities. Otherwise, sugarcane production will continue to decline, they said.