The closure of Pabna Sugar Mill has left sugarcane growers in the district in difficulty over getting their cane crushed. Uncertainty over sales has made them lose interest in the crop, and cane production has fallen. Meanwhile, with no crushing taking place, the mill's assets worth hundreds of crores of taka, including the crushing machinery, are going to ruin for lack of care.

Cane growers said production at Pabna Sugar Mill stopped last year, along with six state-owned sugar mills, under a government decision taken because of continuing losses. Because crushing stopped suddenly, the authorities at the time collected the cane of contract farmers and sent it to North Bengal Sugar Mill in Natore. With crushing still suspended this season, contracts were not renewed. Even so, many farmers in the district have grown cane on their own initiative, hoping to profit from it as a cash crop.

When the matter was raised with him, Pabna Sugar Mill managing director Md Saif Uddin said the mill has ten sugar production zones. As the mill is not crushing, four cane zones near the mill (Ishwardi, Muladuli, Lakshmikunda and Millgate) have been attached this year to the nearby Gopalpur sugar mill with the farmers in mind, so they have no reason to panic. Meanwhile, with production halted, the Pabna mill's workers have been transferred to sugar mills that are still running.

A visit to the mill found rust on various parts of the crushing machinery. Equipment and more than 200 trolleys in the outside yard are covered in weeds and jungle. An official who did not want to be named said that unless the mill restarts soon, this machinery worth over a hundred crore taka will soon become unusable.

Maintenance of the machinery has to begin several months before crushing starts, he said. But with no crushing for the past two years and staff posted to other mills, the machinery has not been properly maintained.

Saif Uddin Ahmed, the mill's managing director, said the government plans to restart Pabna Sugar Mill after modernising it. If that happens, he hoped, farmers in these zones will be able to supply cane to the mill on schedule.

Source: Amader Shomoy. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.