Farmers of Virudhunagar, Tenkasi districts do not want to send cane to Dharani Sugars

Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam raises concerns over Dharani Sugars, seeks intervention to prevent farmers from facing losses.

Raising suspicion over Dharani Sugars in Tenkasi district resuming cane crushing operation soon as promised, Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam has expressed apprehension over farmers of Virudhunagar and Tenkasi districts facing huge loss by way of forfeiting State Advised Price (SAP) due to failure of registration of their produce.

The association has sought the intervention of Director of Sugar for allowing the farmers to register their produce and send them to alternative sugar factories — Sakthi Sugars in Sivaganga and Rajshree Sugars in Theni district — for crushing.

In his petition, association president N. A. Ramachandra Raja said that Dharani Sugars in Vasudevanallur had stopped its operation in 2021 which led to the State Government to divert the cane from Virudhunagar and Tenkasi districts to the other two sugar mills.

“We have been sending some 1,000 tonnes of sugarcane to those two sugar mills after registering our cane with them for the last three years,” Mr. Ramachandra Raja said.

Meanwhile, Dharani Sugars in June 2024 promised to settle the arrears of ₹22 crore due to the farmers by November 2024 and resume its operation.

“With this promise, Dharani Sugars has made the other two sugar factories to wind up their operations in Tenkasi and Virudhunagar districts by September 2024. Those factories have cancelled the registration of cane they had made in the past with the farmers of the two districts . However, Dharani Sugars has, so far, paid only 50% of the arrears to the farmers,” he said.

Expressing concern over the failure of Dharani Sugars to keep up its promises, the association has pointed out that no steps has been taken by the factory to pay the arrears to the farmers before resuming cane crushing operation