UP sugar mills to obtain ISO certificate

Sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh will now have to meet quality standards of international level.

The UP government has asked all the sugar mills in the state to obtain the ISO certificate as soon as possible. While announcing the bidding policy- 2008-09 for sugar cane, the state government advised the sugar mills to get the ISO certification soon.

The new order will create a piquant situation for the state government-owned 39 sugar mills as most of them have old machines and less crushing capacity. The state government has already decided to sell its sugar mills being run by the sugar corporation and cane federation.

Though no time-frame has been fixed for the sugar mills to obtain the ISO certificate, officials in the cane department said that mills must fulfill this criterion before the start of the crushing season.

UP Cane Commissioner, Harsharan Das, while announcing the bidding policy for sugar cane made it clear that the ISO certification can be gained for machinery, crushing or mechanisation processes.

The certification is expected to be welcomed by the "progressive" private mill owners, informed a senior official to Business Standard. The resistance is expected from the corporations and co-operatives.

Some factories in the state are already running with the proposed certification. They include some facilities of Balrampur Chini Mills and Bajaj Hindustan Ltd.