BHOGPUR (JALANDHAR): Punjab Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa today inaugurated renovated, modernized, and expanded Bhogpur Sugar Mill with enhanced capacity of 3000 TCD from 1016 TCD besides 15MW power generation plant in its premises. The crushing season was also kick-started by Randhawa in the sugar mills today
Taking a leap, Sugarfed and Cooperative departments have completed the revamping of the oldest sugar mill of this region, which would further strengthen the crushing capacity of this mill. Further, the new power generation plant will help in collecting additional revenue worth Rs. 42.50 Crore, which would ensure timely payment to farmers from their resources.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said that Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh led the state government has taken a series of steps to make the sugar mills self-sufficient in the state. He said that to drive out the farmer out of the traditional crop cycle of wheat and paddy, sugarcane farming holds a lot of potentials which can further encourage crop diversification in the state.
Randhawa said that as of now about One-Lakh hectares of agricultural land was under sugarcane farming adding this area would further increase in coming years especially after the revival of sugar mills. He said that to make sugarcane farming a profitable affair and encourage farmers, the strengthening of sugar mills was a crucial step.
Randhawa further mentioned that the state government in an important decision has shifted the plant machinery worth Rs. 20.27 Crore of closed sugar mill of Faridkot to Bhogpur sugar mill, which has enhanced its capacity from earlier 1016 TCD to 3000 TCD.
The 15 MW power-generation plant has also been established here, of which 8.54 MW power would be sold to Power Corporation at Rs. 6.29 per unit with an enhancement worth 18 paisa per annum.
The department has signed an agreement with the concerned authorities in this regard.
Further, with the inception of this sugar mill an additional revenue worth Rs. 11 Crore in current season 2020-21, Rs. 15 Crore in 2021-22, and Rs. 16.50 Crore in 2022-23 would be collected.
The Minister said that Bhogpur Cooperative Sugar Mill was the first cooperative mill of this region whose first season was started in 1955-56 adding this mill so far has completed 64 crushing seasons.
Nine sugar mills of the state last year had crushed 1.57 Lakh quintal sugarcane and recovered 9.29 percent sugar. He mentioned that the Bhogpur sugar mill has recovered the highest 10.50 percent of sugar, which was a record.
The Cooperation Minister said that as of now 4466 farmers were undertaking sugarcane farming in the 363 villages marked by the Bhogpur mill and as many as 4500 sugarcane farmers supply their crop to this mill. Keeping in view the trail season of the new mill, the department has planned to operate the old mill so that the farmers do not face any problem.
Revealing about other initiatives of the Sugarfed, Randhawa said new sugar complexes are being set up in Batala and Gurdaspur. He said that in Gurdaspur sugar mill, a sugar plant having capacity up to 5000 TCD including 120 KLPD grain-based distillery and in Batala sugar mill, the capacity is being increased to 5000 TCD from 3500 TCD.
He further stated Indian Oil Corporation and Sugarfed have also decided to set up outlets of Indian Oil in all cooperative sugar mills and one outlet has already been started in Morinda Cooperative sugar mill.
Former Minister and Punjab Technical Education Board Chairman Mohinder Singh Kaypee said that the farmers have to adopt allied activities along with agriculture to make it profitable. He said that the step of the starting power generation plant in the mill is appreciable and it would benefit the sugar mill.
In his address, Tanda Urmar MLA Sangat Singh Gilzian thanked the tireless efforts made by the Cooperation Minister in the modernization of the sugar mill. He said that the expansion of the sugar mill has been carried out for the first time since 1955 which will benefit the sugarcane farmers.
Kartarpur MLA Surinder Singh said this was a long pending demand of the farmers of this region and expressed gratitude towards Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh and Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa for this historic step.
Former MLA and Former Chairman Kanwaljeet Singh Lalli said the expansion of the sugar mill will promote sugarcane farming and said if the sugar mills will be transformed into self-sufficient units, this will ensure cash payments to the farmers. Board of Directors’ Chairman Paramvir Singh also thanked all the guests at the function.
Meanwhile, during the inauguration, the first 10 sugarcane farmers who arrived with the crop in the mill namely Bikramjeet Singh, Sewa Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Kashmir Kaur, Harpreet Kaur, Iqbal Singh, Sarbjeet Singh, Gurbachan Singh, Jaswant Singh, and Joginder Singh were also honoured by the minister.
The new plant in the mill has been set up by Pune based Uttam Energy Limited under the supervision of JP Mukherji and Associates Private Limited. The Cooperation Minister himself is overseeing the operation of the new plant personally.
The new plant has a boiler based on ESP technology which is a new and effective technique to reduce pollution.
On the occasion, Sugarfed Chairman Amrik Singh Aliwal, Milkfed Chairman Capt Harminder Singh, Registrar Cooperative Societies Vikas Garg, Sugarfed MD Puneet Goyal, Sugarfed General Manager Kanwaljeet Singh Toor, Vice-Chairman of Board of Directors’ Parminder Singh, GM Sugar Mill Arun Kumar Arora, Uttam Energy Limited Pune CEO Anil Babu Jaami, Senior Manager Projects Shankar Bambre, JP Mukherji and Associates Private Limited Assistant General Manager T Srinivasan, Staff Selection Board Member Jaspal Singh Dhillon, Congress leader Sukhwinder Singh Lalli, and others were present.