Tamil Nadu   

Cogeneration plants to be set up in 17 sugar mills

TIRUPATTUR: The State government, through the Electricity Board, has decided to set up cogeneration plants in 17 cooperative and public limited sugar mills across the State at an estimated cost of Rs.925 crore to generate electricity, Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S. Arumugam said here on Saturday.

Participating in a symposium on drip irrigation organised by Tirupattur Cooperative Sugar Mill, he said the plants planned would generate 188 mega watt of power. The government had floated the tender and the works would begin soon, he said.

Cogeneration plants were in operation in 18 out of 21 private sugar mills in Tamil Nadu. These mills together generated 366.60 mw of electricity. Similarly, cogeneration plants have been set up in three cooperative sugar mills to generate 20 mw of power. A total of 234.59 lakh units of electricity was supplied to the Electricity Board during the financial year of 2006-2007, Mr. Arumugam said.

In addition to power generation, distilleries were set up in Salem and Amaravathi cooperative sugar mills for producing sprit.

A total of 221.49 lakh litres of sprit was produced by the two mills in 2006-2007.

The State government, after procuring licence, had installed 14 distilleries in cooperative and private sugar mills.

The annual production of sprit by these distilleries was 21.06 crore litres, Mr. Arumugam said. The government had given permission to set up distilleries in eight private sugar mills during 2007-2008.

Stating that Tamil Nadu had a capacity to produce 645 lakh litres of ethanol a year, Mr. Arumugam said that this year ethanol plants had been set up at the Salem and Amaravathi Cooperative Sugar Mills and EID Parry Private Sugar Mill.

This would give the State an opportunity to produce 960 lakh litres of ethanol a year. A total of 1,200 lakh litres of ethanol had to be produced annually to supply 10 per cent ethanol mixed petrol in the State.

On the importance of drip irrigation in sugarcane cultivation, Mr. Arumugam said the average rainfall recorded in the State was 925 mm. As a result, available water sources were not sufficient for agriculture and allied activities. Many districts across the State reported depletion of groundwater.

It was under these circumstances the government had been motivating the farmers to adopt drip irrigation technique. Drip irrigation helped in saving 50 per cent of the water needed for agriculture and allied activities. It also increased yield.

Mr. Arumugam said the government had set a target of 20,000 ha area under sugarcane cultivation to be covered through drip irrigation in 2007-2008. It had decided to give 50 per cent subsidy per ha for which Rs. 58.80 crore had been earmarked.

The government also planned to procure machines for sugarcane cultivation and cut down the cost incurred by the farmers on cane cutting. If the trial is successful, the government would spend Rs.11.90 crore to purchase 34 machines for sugarcane cultivation.

Two machines would be given to each of the 17 cooperative and public limited sugar mills, he said.

Surjit K. Chowdhry, Secretary, Agriculture Department, Athulya Mishra, Commissioner, Sugar Department Sugandhi, District Revenue Officer, and N.K.R. Suriya Kumar, Natrampalli Constituency MLA, spoke.

Later, Mr. Arumugam handed over certificates to the farmers who have been cultivating sugarcane through drip irrigation technique.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Textiles for specific uses
DMK cadres observe fast
620 bags of PDS rice seized
NECC zonal office shifted
With interest
Rs. 60 cr. for coastal community development
Traders for strike on July 22
Expressing solidarity
Krishnagiri police seize 620 bags of ration rice
Taking back Katchatheevu only solution: Stalin
Cogeneration plants to be set up in 17 sugar mills
More knowledge centres planned in Pudukottai
Better pay for overhead tank operators sought
PDS rice seized
ELCOT brings its laptops to students of Thanjavur
Promote inter-disciplinary courses: scientist
Managements react to new graduation ceremony norms
Free training programme
Woman killed by lightning
Minor boys take case directly to High Court judges
Andhra keen to expedite luxury tourist train proposal
TNEB proposal turned own
TNAU predicts price for Adi Pattam crops
Students urged to remain focussed
Gale destroys plantain
Examinations for Boiler Engineer posts this year
NCC annual training camp in Tirupur
Batch of five commandos inducted into force
Official tenders apology
Coimbatore Consumer Cause wins case
It’s just getting bigger
Traffic awareness campaign
He lends his expertise, experience to redefining medical evidence
Jewels, cash stolen
Supplementing family income, a tough job
Lecture organised
Draft voters’ list on July 21
Minor fire
Burglary at mobile phone store
Man killed as sand trucks overturn on GST Road
Installation ceremony
“Deploy Navy in Palk Strait”
36 school students injured
Deal will make India powerful: C.N.R. Rao
Call to adopt two-pronged strategy to tide over power crisis
Fishermen issue: DMK seeks Centre’s help
Government turns down TNEB’s proposal
Thirumavalavan thanks Karunanidhi

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu