In a significant development, the UP government on Tuesday decided to hand over four closed sugar mills of UP State Sugar Corporation on long lease to the private sector to develop them into integrated complexes under the PPP model.

The four mills, some of which have been closed for almost 15 years now, are Maholi, in Sitapur, which was closed in 1998-99; Nandganj, in Ghazipur, which was closed in 1998-99; Burhwal in Barabanki that was closed in 2008; and Chatta in Mathura, which has been non-operational since 2009-10.

The state cabinet, headed by chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, approved the decision to invite the private sector to develop the closed mills as integrated complexes on a long lease of 30 years. “The selected players would need to set up new mills with a minimum crushing capacity of 2,500 TCD (tonnes of cane a day) which should also have a minimum 10 MW cogen and 30 kilolitre distillery facilities in it,” said a senior official of the state government.