Monday | 13 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
বাংলা
   
Monday | 13 January 2025 | Epaper

Pabna Sugar Mills on verge of destruction

Published : Sunday, 8 October, 2023 at 12:00 AM  Count : 384
Naresh Madhu
PABNA, Oct 7: Pabna Sugar Mills  Ltd is now lying on the verge of destruction, with its wealth and properties being decayed.

There was a vibrant activity in the mills only three years back. Now the entire area has been turned into a ghostly forest.

Carts carrying metric tons (mt) of sugarcane have developed rust.

Due to various complications in 2020, the Ministry of Industry stopped sugarcane crushing in the mills along with some other sugar mills in the country.

At present, tools worth Taka hundred crore are getting damaged. Sugarcane growers are affected.

The mills was established on 60 acres of land in Dashuriya of Ishwardi in Pabna at the cost of Tk 79 crore.

The installation work started in December in 1992. The experimental sugar production began in 1996-97 threshing season. Later on, the factory started commercial threshing from 1997-98.

The sugar mills started incurring losses from the start of production. The mills had a daily sugarcane-crushing capacity of 1,500 mt. The annual production capacity was 15,000 mt.

The Ministry of Industry announced the suspension of sugarcane-crushing operations by Pabna Sugar Mills and other mills on December 2, in 2020 due to the multi-faceted problems including crises of sugarcane farmers and workers.

Nurul Hossain, in-charge of the mills security, said, "It is one kind of death. We have to guard dead bodies."

"We want the government to re-open the mills," he added.

Sugarcane would be cultivated on 3,500 to 4,000 acres of land in the entire district. Farmers are now cultivating other crops on these lands. Growers said, sugarcane farming is profitable. But they are not getting profits from other crops.

Ansar Ali Dilu, general secretary of Pabna Sugar Mills Sugarcane Association, said, "About 3,000 farmers in the district have suffered losses due to the closure of the mills. I would cultivate sugarcane on 25-30 bighas of land."

Efforts are being made to informally start contractual partnership with private organizations, said the Mills Managing Director Md Akhtaruzzaman.
The government has no plan to re-open it at this moment, he added. Yet informal discussion is going on about whether the mills can be opened in partnership with a private organization or not, he maintained.

"It will be good," he said, adding it is not possible to keep the mills running with only sugar.

Sugar works continue only for a few months, he added. But during the remaining time of the year, workers do not have much work, he maintained.

Citing the example of the largest sugar mills in Chuadanga, he said, not only sugar but also other products should be produced. Caro is producing sugar as well as liquor and other products as by-products, he said.

They are profiting hundred crores of Taka per year, he added.
 
"We also need to think about something like that. Then it is possible to turn on the mills," the official maintained.



LATEST NEWS
MOST READ
Also read
Annual Scouts camp held in Rajshahi
Duck farming makes farmers solvent at Dumuria
Eight detained on different charges in three districts
41 crude bombs recovered in Cnawabganj
Three killed, 45 injured in road mishaps
Thrust on protecting expatriates’ welfare
36 FFs get Bir Nibas houses at Nageshwari
Man nabbed for raping schoolgirl
Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury
Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Online: 41053014; Advertisement: 41053012.
E-mail: [email protected], news©dailyobserverbd.com, advertisement©dailyobserverbd.com, For Online Edition: mailobserverbd©gmail.com
🔝
close