Sirpur, ITC paper mills hit by floods

Sirpur Paper Mills Limited (SPML) and the ITC's Bhadrachalam paper plant, both located in the North Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, suspended production for a couple of days following flooding of the river Godavari.

Though SPML, located in Adilabad district, has restarted production from Sunday with the water level in Godavari receding, the ITC's plant has suspended production from yesterday with river water at Bhadrachalam flowing at 66 feet, 13 feet above the danger mark of 53 feet.

According to SPML president S K Khare, more than the production loss, which has been about 400 tonnes of paper worth about Rs 40 lakh, the material loss was huge.

"The insurance people are now at our company's premises to assess the damage," Khare told Business Standard.

Chief executive of ITC Limited Paperboards and Speciality Paper Division Pradeep Bhobale also said that the production loss at the Bhadrachalam plant was insignificant. With the flood situation easing a bit and water level in Godavari receding, he was hopeful of restarting the plant's operations in a day or two.

Another major paper mill in the state, AP Paper Mills Limited (APPML), continued production though the flood situation threatened to disrupt the supply of raw material.

"We have been able to manage the situation as we had enough raw material in store," APPML executive director R C Mall said. APPML is located at Rajahmundry in East Godavari district of coastal Andhra Pradesh.

Though the rains have subsided in the state since Sunday, the river Godavari and its tributaries continued to be in spate due to rains in the neighbouring states of Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh.