Anantapur: Bitter time for Kadapa Cooperative Sugar Factory

Anantapur: The fate of Kadapa Cooperative Sugar Factory at Chennur was sealed after the government decided to close the unit following paucity of funds, losses and differences between farmers and management. The employees will be offered VRS and there was no second thought to hand it over to private management though the government was positive to run three other units in the state. The units were remained closed for the past two years.

The cooperative sugar factory was established at Kondapeta of Chennur mandal in 1970 with a view to boost sugarcane cultivation and to provide better opportunities to unemployed youth and farmers in Kadapa.

The state government had invested Rs 1 crore and 7,500 farmers invested about Rs 80 lakh as their share capital. In the last 20 years crushing had never been done to its full capacity of 1,250 tonnes per day due to poor production of sugarcane and also poor maintenance.

The factory remained closed from 1995 to 2005. The factory was seized as loans taken for its operation were not repaid and the institutions which lent the money took to legal recourse.

Former chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy revived the factory by clearing its debts, and investing another Rs 4 crore in the factory. Reports say the factory crushed 14,000 tonnes of sugarcane and one lakh tonnes in 2006-07. However, with the price of sugar dropping drastically, the company could not make any profit.

In 2009-10, farmers harvested 30,000 tonnes of sugarcane with no crushing in Kadapa factory, and other factories bought the cane at a higher price. Finally, the factory closed two years ago. About 52 permanent employees and 100 seasonal employees are in the factory. It is assessed Rs 20 crore is needed to pay employees under VRS package.

YSRC MLA K. Srinivasulu accused the TD government of showing apathy towards Kadapa as the other sugar factories were permitted to reopen. This was the second sugar factory closed in TD government. In 1999, Nizam sugar factory in Parigi of Anantapur district was sold to a private management.