Deolali Camp: Sugar production at the Nashik Co-operative Sugar Factory (NaSaKa) has finally began after nine years’ of long wait. Thus the sugarcane crushing season has begun following the repairs of factory machineries in a short span of time through the efforts of MP Hemant Godse and Deepak Chande.
Farmers from 323 villages in four talukas of Nashik, Sinnar, Igatpuri and Trimbakeshwar were hit by the closure of the sugar mill for the last nine years. There is an atmosphere of happiness among the sugarcane producing farmers since the actual production of sugar starting on May 25.
Pujan of the first five sugar bags of the current crushing season performed yesterday in the presence of MP Hemant Godse, Deepak Chande, Anita Godse, Sagar Godse, Bhagyashree Godse, Bhakti Godse, Shubh Chande and Ishwar Chande.
Speaking on the occasion, MP Godse said that Nashik Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana (NaSaka) is very important for the farmers of four talukas and all eyes were on when the factory would be operationalised.
Dams, rivers, and abundant water is available in the district. Therefore, the yield of sugarcane crop is of good quality. But the question of what to do with this bumper crop was facing the farmers.
Farmers struggled for nine years to get the sugar mill commissioned. MP Goidse tried to run this factory on lease basis from Nashik District Central Co-operative Bank for a period of 25 years through his business colleague Deepak Chande. Today, sugar production has actually started by repairing the factory machineries in just one and a half month.
“In fact, no one in Maharashtra dared to start a sugar factory in the month of May, but we did it with the intention of testing the machineries and the test was successful. Therefore, the factory will be run at full capacity in the coming 2022-23 crushing season,” he said.
It is also planning to modernize the machinery and increase the crushing capacity from 1250 MT per day to 2500 MT per day. As a rusult, 3200 MT per day will be crushed in the coming season, including 30 KLPD distillery, ethanol plant which is being set up.
“Apart from this, our focus will be on power generation. The emphasis will be on cultivating high yielding sugarcane through VSI experts and state-of-the-art machinery will soon be installed in the right places in the factories,” MP Godse stated.
The target is to grind about 5 lakh metric tonnes of sugarcane for the next season. It will be priced like any other factory, taking care that no farmer will have any difficulty in planting and harvesting sugarcane.
District Bank Administrator Arun Kadam, Deepak Patil, factory executive director Anant Nikam, officers Rahul Irsur, Anil Patil, Jagannath Jagtap, Sudhakar Godse, R D Dhongade, Lilabai Gaidhani along with officers, staff and members were present.
Chronology of events
-
Factory last crushing season 2012-13
-
Factory closed for nine years
-
Agreement between the factory, NDCCB and Deepak Builders dated March 30, 2022
-
April 2 – The gate was opened by Guardian Minister Chhagan Bhujbal
-
Commencement of work from April 3
-
Boiler fire lighting on May 3 at the hands of Annasaheb More
-
On May 16, sugarcane bunch was laid by Shantigiri Maharaj
-
May 25, 2022 – Actual start of sugar production
