Vizianagaram: The shutdown of two major sugar factories in Vizianagaram district—Sri Vijayarama Gajapathi Cooperative Sugar Factory at Bhimasingi and NCS Sugars Limited at Sithanagaram—has deeply affected the lives of farmers and workers in the region, reports The Hindu.
The Sri Vijayarama Gajapathi Sugar Factory, set up in 1960 in Bhimasingi, stopped operations in 2020 after facing repeated machinery failures. A government-appointed technical committee had recommended that the factory be modernised to help it return to profitability. However, the then YSRCP-led government did not proceed with the proposal, leaving many farmers in a difficult situation.
The privately run NCS Sugars factory also shut down operations, citing mounting financial losses. To repay debts and settle dues with farmers who had supplied sugarcane, the company eventually sold part of its land.
With both factories no longer functional, farmers were forced to transport their sugarcane to the Sankili sugar factory, the next nearest facility. The high cost of transportation led many to abandon sugarcane cultivation in favour of other crops.
Loksatta Party State President Bhisetti Babji recently appealed to the government to modernise the closed factories by introducing ethanol production and other byproducts. He also called for better prices to be paid to sugarcane growers.
Leaders of the Bhimasingi Sugar Factory Workers’ Association, U. Srinu and Rothu Kanakaraju, have urged the government to settle pending Provident Fund dues and other employee benefits for workers who lost their jobs when the factory shut down.
According to Dantuluri Varma, Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Rythu Coolie Sangham, sugarcane cultivation in the district has dropped sharply from 70,000 acres to just 7,000 acres since the factories closed. Farmers have been consistently appealing to the State government to revive the factories and help them regain their livelihoods.
