Technical snag halts crushing operations at Palwal sugar mill

Palwal, November 24

Crushing operations have been halted due to a technical breakdown in the government-owned cooperative sugar mill here. It stopped functioning within a week after starting its crushing season.

The mill, which started its operation for the current season on November 15, developed a technical snag on Monday. Sources claim that not a single quintal of cane has been offloaded at the mill during the past about 96 hours.

The lone sugar mill in South Haryana, it caters to the farmers of four districts of Palwal, Nuh, Faridabad and Gurugram. It is reported that its turbine faced a technical breakdown, halting the intake of sugarcane crop.

“Hundreds of quintals of sugarcane crop have already been harvested and loaded in tractor trolleys while there is no concrete assurance about when the work will be resumed at the Palwal mill,” said a farmer, Bhagat Singh.

It is claimed that while the farmers have been asked to suspend the supply of sugarcane, many had been waiting with their vehicles either outside the mill premises or were midway expecting the mill to resume its operations soon.

A similar breakdown was also reported in the last season, when the mill had stopped functioning within 48 hours of starting operation.

Shashi Vasundhara, MD of the sugar mill, said, “Although the technical breakdown has led to a halt, the mill is expected to resume operations on November 26 as repairs are underway.”