Chhattisgarh to become self-sufficient in sugar

State to have fourth sugar plant in Kabeerdham district

Chhattisgarh would have fourth sugar factory---a development that would help the otherwise rice-producing state to become self-sufficient in sugar.

The new sugar factory would come up in Pandariya area of Kabeerdham district that already had one plant in Ramhepur village. The other two sugar plants are located in Balod and Surajpur districts.

"Chief Minister Raman Singh Friday gave in-principle consent to work on the plan to set up a new sugar factory in Kabeerdham district," a senior state government official said. The plant would have a capacity of crushing 2500 metric tonnes of sugarcanes per day. The facility would come up with an investment of Rs 150 crore.

In the presentation given by the department officials, it was informed that more than 20,000 sugarcane farmers from Kabeerdham and neighbouring districts of Mungeli and Bemetara would be benefitted once the plant was set up.

The factory would be managed and run by a society comprising sugarcane farmers as its members.

"The farmers would have share in the factory as they would contribute Rs 10 crore as their stake for setting up the sugar factory," the official said. The chief minister had instructed the officials to start the work on the project soon. The district administration in Kabeerdham had constituted a high level committee of officials to expedite land acquisition and other works for the factory.

The fourth sugar plant in the state would be a step forward to make Chhattisgarh self-sufficient in sugar. The production in the three factories had reached 65,000 metric tonnes and the state government had set a target of 100,000 metric tonnes.

The state government required 57,500 metric tonnes of sugar per annum for distribution to the ration card holders through the public distribution system. The Government of India had been allocating about 56,000 metric tonnes of sugar every year to Chhattisgarh.

Now when the state would be in a position to produce 100,000 metric tonnes from its own resources, it would not have to depend on Centre's allocation to meet the requirement.