Yamunanagar, Haryana: The Saraswati Sugar Mills (SSM) in Yamunanagar, one of the country’s largest sugar mills, began its crushing operations on Tuesday. The mill has set a target of crushing 1.25 crore quintals of sugarcane during the current season, reports The Tribune.
With the mill’s operations now underway, many farmers will be able to harvest their sugarcane on time and proceed with sowing their wheat crop. The crushing season was formally inaugurated by SK Sachdeva, Chief Executive of the mill.
Senior vice-president (administration) DP Singh, senior vice-president (technical) Satyaveer Singh, vice-president (cane) Lalit Kumar, and several prominent residents of the area were also present at the launch.
Sachdeva said that special preparations had been made to ensure smooth functioning of the mill throughout the season. He confirmed that the mill’s crushing target for the year stands at 125 lakh quintals.
Lalit Kumar said the mill had set up 45 sugarcane purchase centres across the region to support farmers. He added that farmers had been provided with improved sugarcane varieties known for higher yields to boost production in the mill’s command area.
Company spokesperson DP Singh urged farmers to cooperate by supplying their entire sugarcane produce to the mill.
“With the mill starting operations, sugarcane harvesting has begun. Now, many farmers, especially small farmers, will be able to sow their wheat crop after harvesting sugarcane,” said farmer Nilesh Kumar of Devdhar village.
The Haryana government has fixed the sugarcane price at ₹415 per quintal for early varieties this year.
