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Cane growers plea to run AP sugar unit

Our Bureau

HYDERABAD, Nov. 20

THE Nizamabad District Sugarcane Growers Association has come forward to operate the Shakkarnagar sugar factory and its distillery, which have run into rough weather and requested the State Government to consider its offer in the bid to privatise the uni t.

The factory, which was the first to be set up under the name, Nizam Sugar Factory (NSF) in 1936-37, has an installed capacity of 3,500 tonnes a day and a distillery capacity of 3,000 litres. It has 15,000 acres of sugarcane fields under its control and t he annual average crushing was up to 6 lakh tonnes.

The factory which had done exceedingly well earlier expanded its activities by taking over six sugar factories including those at Hindupur, Miryalguda and Bobbili, two distilleries and a machine tool factory. In addition, NSF has high value properties in Hyderabad.

Trouble started for the NSF when the loss-making factories at Hindupur, Miryalguda and Bobbili were acquired with huge investments, according to the association office-bearers.

The three units were closed down and their employees transferred to the Shakkarnagar unit raising the wage bill 100 per cent.