Sugar mills closed due to lack, farmers in misery

News Desk: The sugarcane farmers of the district are in trouble due to the closure of Pabna Sugar Mill. Sugarcane production has declined as they have lost interest in production due to marketing uncertainty. Meanwhile, due to lack of threshing activities, the mill's resources including sugarcane threshing machines are being wasted due to carelessness due to lack of maintenance.

Sugarcane growers said the government decided to take responsibility for the continuous losses and stopped production at Pabna Sugar Mill last year along with six state-owned sugar mills. As the threshing stopped suddenly, the authorities collected sugarcane from the contracted farmers and sent it to the North Bengal Sugar Mill in Natore. The contract was not renewed as the threshing was stopped this season as well. Even after this, many farmers of the district have cultivated sugarcane on their own initiative in the hope of making a profit as a cash crop.

Pabna Sugar Mill Managing Director said. Saif Uddin said there are ten sugar production zones under Pabna Sugar Mill. This year, four sugarcane production zones near the mill, Ishwardi Zone, Muladuli Zone, Laxmikunda Zone and Millgate Zone have been connected to Gopalpur Sugar Mill near Pabna for the benefit of the farmers. So there is no reason for them to panic. Meanwhile, the workers of Pabna Sugar Mill have been transferred to the existing sugar mills as production has stopped.

Going to Pabna Sugar Mill on the spot, it was seen that rust had fallen on different parts of the threshing machine. Outside the yard is covered with weeds and forest and more than two hundred trolleys. An official, who did not want to be named, said that if the mill is not started soon, the equipment worth hundreds of crores of rupees will soon become unusable.

He said the machinery has to be maintained from a few months before the start of threshing. But due to non-threshing in the last two years, the equipment was not properly maintained as the workers were installed in other mills.

The government has plans to reopen the Pabna Sugar Mill through modernization, said Saif Uddin Ahmed, managing director of the mill. He hoped that if this was implemented, the farmers in these areas would be able to supply sugarcane to the sugar mills within the stipulated time.

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