By Our Correspondent
Sarlahi, Jan. 2: The sugar mills in Sarlahi district have come into operation before the government announced the support price for sugarcane.
Farmers are compelled to give sugarcane to the mills even though the price of sugarcane has not been fixed fearing the drying of produce in the field and delay in planting another crop.
Of the three sugar mills in the district, Hariwan-based Indu Shankar Sugar Mill has come into operation first.

Yog Narayan Rajak, Manager of Indu Shankar, informed that the industry has been in operation since Thursday afternoon. Indu Shankar had performed Donga Puja on November 12 to run the industry this season.
Trucks and tractors carrying sugarcane from farmers have filled the yard of the mill. However, the yard allocated for bullock carts is still empty.
Indu Shankar, which has the capacity to crush 5,000 tons of sugarcane daily, had crushed 221,600 tons sugarcane last year. “Even though the price of sugarcane has not been fixed, we have brought the mill into operation at the request of the farmers,” said Rajak.

Similarly, Mahalakshmi Sugar Mill at Bagdaha in Godaita Municipality in the southern part of the district is also in the final stage of preparation. The industry will be operational in a day or two, said Devendra Ray Yadav, Chief of Godaita Municipality.
Mahalaxmi had crushed 89,000 tons sugarcane last year. This mill is the second largest sugar industry in the district.
Likewise, Annapurna Sugar Mill at Dhankaul in the district is likely to be out of operation this year as well.

Chairman of the Federation of Sugarcane Producers of Nepal, Kapil Muni Mainali, said that the mill is not likely to come into operation this year as the mill is not transferred to the group including Rakesh Kumar Agrawal and Gyan Prasad Bhattarai that bought the mill.
Annapurna was out of operation for the last two years as it failed to pay the farmers for their sugarcane which the mill bought.

Even though the remaining payment of the farmers was paid last year, the delay in the process including transfer of ownership of the industry has increased the possibility of the industry not coming into operation this year.
Mainali accused the government and industrialists of delaying to fix the price of sugarcane. Last year, the price of sugarcane was fixed at Rs. 536.56 per quintal.
It is estimated that sugarcane is cultivated in 25,000 hectares of land in Sarlahi this year.