New owners set to reopen Nayagarh Sugar Mill

ECP Industries, which took over the closed Nayagarh Cooperative Sugar mill from the state ownership recently, intends to restart the operation of the unit from the current crushing season.

The company has gone for boiler firing in October last week and the crushing of cane is scheduled to begin in the third week of November.

"We will start getting matured sugar cane from the 2nd/3rd week of November and the expected availability of cane in the captive area of the plant is about one lakh tonne up to the end of the season in March, 2005", says Trailokya Mishra, the chairman of ECP Industries.

Based on the calculation of a yield of 9 per cent, we expect to produce 9000 tonnes of sugar, he added. The company is likely to notch up a turn over of Rs 14 crore in 2004-05 and contribute Rs two crore to the government exchequer in the process.

Meanwhile, for the next year's crushing season, the company has projected a target to crush 1 lakh 50,000 tonnes of sugar cane by enhancing the captive plantation area from 3,500 acres to 5,500 acres.

The company, Mishra said, has already invested over Rs 2.5 crore for renovation and pgradation, which has increased the crushing capacity of the plant from 1,250 tonnes per day to 1500 tonnes per day.

While the expected employment generation, both direct and indirect, following the reopening of the factory is about 1000, another 4000 farmers have been engaged by the company for supply of cane.

Besides, this has given a boost to the transport business in the area as 250 trucks and 100 tractors are engaged for carrying sugar cane, sugar, fertilizer, seeds and pesticides during the crushing season.

The government has provided requisite support to the company in reopening of the plant, and curb any attempt by the miscreants to scuttle the plant's operation, Mishra said.