the goan I network
PONDA
After facing a shortage of sugarcane, the Sanjeevani Sakhar Karkhana (SSK) at Dharbandora managed to restart the plant on late Wednesday evening with sufficient stock to operate on Thursday.
However given the uncertainty over availability of sugarcane from neighbouring states, officials were unsure of continuing operations at the sugar factory.
The karkhana has, so far, crushed 30,000 tonnes of sugarcane during the present season.
It suffered a setback as operations were stopped on Monday morning due to unavailability of sugarcane from neighbouring states after the Anmod Ghat was closed for vehicles.
SSK agriculture officer S V Sangodkar on Thursday told The Goan that operations were resumed after they got 81 tonnes of sugarcane from other states as well as supplies from farmers in the State.
“At present, we have around 600 tonnes of sugarcane and additional stocks are expected to come. More sugarcane may come from Karnataka via Chorla ghat. Hence, we can easily continue operations for one more day,” Sangodkar said.
Asked if operations would continue without interruption, Sangodkar replied: “The exact position will be known on Friday, when we get the exact position of availability of sugarcane. We hope to get more sugarcane. At present, we are getting around 500 tonnes of sugarcane from farmers in the State,” he said.
Some farmers from Karnataka have started transporting sugarcane via Chorla ghat.
Sangodkar had earlier said sugarcane cultivators from Khanapur area of Belgaum district did not find it feasible or practical to take the long route to Goa via Chorla Ghat, following the closure of the road via Anmod.
According to sources, the SSK needs about 1,200 tonnes of sugarcane to operate smoothly.
It may be recalled that crushing season at the sugar factory began after much delay as the Central Pollution Control Board had directed to halt operations over the pollution monitoring issue. The factory began activity only after the required system was installed. Later, shortage of firewood had also affected operations at the factory.
