Errant officials will be dealt as per law: TASCO chairman

Neither the Tamil Nadu Sugar Corporation (TASCO) nor the Arignar Anna Cooperative Sugar Mills, Kurungulam, will shield employees who had allegedly indulged in malpractices and the errant officials would be dealt with as per law, TASCO Chairman and Managing Director Mahesan Kasirajan told shareholders at the Corporation's 41st Annual General Meeting here on Thursday.

Reacting to demands from the cane growers and suppliers, Mr. Kasirajan said that the cases against the errant officials were being pursued and they would be dealt with as per law. Stating that efforts were being taken to get the co-generation power plant at the Kurungulam mills readied at the earliest, he noted that preparatory work to extract and use ethanol in all the 19 sugar mills in the State under the public sector cooperative fold was at an advanced stage of consideration.

Accepting the demands of the cane suppliers and stakeholders, Mr. Kasirajan said that efforts would be taken to post separate directors for the Kurungulam mills besides which measures to shore up the performance of the sugar mills would be taken.

Earlier, Cauvery Farmers Protection Association secretary Swamimalai R. Vimalnathan said that the role of the mills towards improving the livelihood of the cane growers and suppliers was woefully disappointing. The co-generation unit works that should have been completed in 18 months have been dragging for nine years now and this called for an immediate action, he noted.

Kurungulam Sugar Cane Growers’ Association president P. Ramasamy demanded that the arrears in payment due to suppliers be released before Pongal as the farmers were saddled with enormous credit burden were not in a position to celebrate the festival.

Association secretary S. Ramanathan voiced his disappointment over the announcement of the purchase price for cane being supplied to the mills and urged that it be enhanced to Rs. 4,000 per tonne. Another farmer Thozhagiripatti P. Govindarajan demanded that either works on co-generation plant be completed at the earliest or the mill return the Rs. 11 crore the farmers had given as their share for the installation of the plant nine years ago.

District Collectors A. Annadurai (Thanjavur) and S. Ganesh (Pudukkottai), Chief Executive Officer of the Arignar Anna Sugar Mills K. Sivasoundaravalli and other officials along with a large number of sugar cane growers who were shareholders participated in the meeting.