A modern two-tier reverse osmosis distillery effluent treatment plant set up at a cost of ₹8.50 crore was commissioned at the Salem Cooperative Sugar Mills in Mohanur near here on Saturday.
This is the maiden two-tier RO effluent treatment plant to be set up in Tamil Nadu, said M. C. Sampath, State Industries Minister, who commissioned the plant. The cane crushing period for the 2017-18 season was also inaugurated on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Sampath said this plant would be of immense help in recycling the effluents and in generating fresh water, which could be utilised for running the sugar factory. Farmers should come forward to adopt farm technologies and also take advantage of the 100% subsidy scheme for the installation of drip irrigation system for increasing the cane production, he said .
The Minister said that at present the farmers of Namakkal, Paramathivelur, Tiruchengode and Rasipuram in Namakkal district, and Musiri and Thottiam in Tiruchi district were supplying cane to the Mohanur factory.
The farmers should extend a helping hand by bringing more area under cane to enable this sugar factory achieve three lakh tonnes sugar production target during 2018-19.
P. Thangamani, Electricity Minister, said that though the Salem Cooperative Sugar Factory was running at a loss, former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and the present Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami allotted adequate funds, which enabled in providing the State advised price (SAP) to the cane farmers. At a time when many sugar factories have huge dues to the farmers, the Mohanur factory has cleared all the dues of the farmersm, he said.
Mr. Thangamani said that the previous DMK regime planned co-generation power units in a dozen cooperative sugar mills in the State, including the Salem Cooperative Sugar Mill, way back in 2010. Though it was planned to commission the power units within a year, no unit has come so far . The Minister said that the AIADMK regime has made Tamil Nadu a power surplus State, due to which the farmers of delta districts were getting power supply for 12 hours a day and those of other districts for nine hours.
Due to the short supply of cane to the Mohanur factory, there was initial hesitation on the part of the management on launching cane crushing for the current season. However, the Chief Minister was firm that the crushing of the cane should not be disrupted at any cost.
V. Saroja, Social Welfare Minister, P. R. Sundaram, MP, K. P. P. Baskar, MLA, M. Sivapackiam, Chairman of the managing board of the sugar factory,also spoke. M. Asia Mariam, Collector, presided.
