Sugar is sweet, but issues surrounding its production remain bitter. Government officials in the district are struggling to check the smuggling of sugarcane from agricultural fields, meant exclusively for cooperative sugar mills, to private mills.
On Friday, N. Palanisami, president of the Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers’ Association and one of the directors of a cooperative sugar mill at Alanganallur here, attended a meeting convened by Collector L. Subramanian to redress farmers’ grievances, including complaints about rampant smuggling of cane. He pointed out that the smuggling activity was more pronounced in Melur taluk. The Collector called for an explanation from Sugarcane Officer K. Shanthi, who confirmed the allegation and said that the offenders got away because they wielded political influence.
“Two brokers, Tirupathi and Kumar, lure farmers by paying Rs. 1 to 2 lakh. We had seized many lorries carrying smuggled sugarcane and handed them over to the police. But the vehicles are released within half an hour following phone calls from MLAs,” she told the Collector.
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Later, talking to
However, denying that registered canes were also being smuggled, Ms. Shanthi said that the private mills and their brokers were involved in smuggling only unregistered sugarcane. But even that required official sanction. "It is mandatory for private mills and their representatives to obtain a no-objection certificate (NoC) from me for transporting even unregistered cane from an area reserved for a cooperative mill. But the two brokers are smuggling the cane without obtaining the NoC," she added.