Members of Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers’ Association staged a protest in front of the Collectorate here on Friday demanding the reopening of the National Cooperative Sugarcane Mills in Alanganallur in the district.
Stating that sugarcane farmers were affected since it had been shut for years, they urged the State to take concrete steps to reopen the unit.
They noted that the Minister for Agriculture announced in the Assembly that the plant would be reopened as a result of the persistent sit-in protest staged by more than 300 farmers for 46 days in 2021 in front of the unit.
But, even after a lapse of three months since the Minister announced that a special committee would be constituted to calculate the cost it would incur to resume operations of the mill, no action had been taken, they said.
The protesters said that despite repeatedly petitioning Ministers P. Moorthy and Palanivel Thiaga Rajan, their request had remained unnoticed.
N. Palanisami, State president, Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers Association, said that more than 2,000 acres of land where sugarcane was cultivated had been registered with the mill, and there were more than 1,500 acres that had not been registered.
“The mill ensures that a farmer is given the best price unlike private parties who exploit us,” he charged.
To set up a plant to produce ethanol from sugarcane which will ensure good prices for the produce was one of their demands.
State general secretary D. Raveendran and other members took part in the protest.
The protesters were detained by the police and released in the evening.
