AICC general secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia has written to chief minister Kamal Nath to bring to his notice the hardships that a large number of farmers are facing in the Gwalior-Chambal region due to the closure of a sugar mill at Kailaras in Morena district during the previous BJP regime.

The sugar mill at Kailaras was established five decades back keeping in view the interests of sugarcane-growing farmers in the Gwalior-Chambal region. The mill was a lifeline for farmers in Morena and adjoining areas, Scindia said in the letter.

The former union minister said, “Kailaras Sugar mill has a glorious history. This mill is not only the lifeline for sugarcane-growing farmers of Kailaras, Joura and Morena but also assumes importance for such farmers from Gwalior, Datia and Bhind districts after the closure of the Dabra sugar mill.”

Scindia said the then government closed down the Kailaras sugar mill in 2008-09 citing revenue loss, which was, however, caused by mismanagement during the BJP regime. The then government did not address the concerns of thousands of sugarcane-growing farmers of the region and employees of the mill while taking the decision to close down the mill.

Scindia said resuming operations of the Kailaras sugar mill was their (Congress’s) promise to people during the state assembly elections in 2018 and the people of Morena elected the party on all the seats in the region. “Today, it’s our moral duty to take necessary steps to resume operations of the mill in view of the aspirations of the people,” Scindia said in the letter to Nath.

Scindia has suggested that the government can give a grant to the sugar mill management to clear its outstanding dues of Rs 29 crore. After that the mill can run either in public-private partnership mode or as a cooperative as earlier, he said.