Home ›› 16 Nov 2021 ›› Nation
The year-long closure of Shyampur Sugar Mills at Badarganj upazila in Rangpur has left thousands of individuals out of work alongside hitting the local economy hard.
Sugarcane thrashing remains suspended since last year, with the mill wearing a deserted look due to absence of activities.
Shyampur Sugar Mills Managing Director Ahsan Habib said the sugar factory was built in 1964 spending around Tk 7 crore which was the only heavy industry in the district.
As all operations relating to production of sugar have come to a standstill, so is local trade and commerce virtually.
Thousands of people and cane farmers in the area who looked to the mill for their source of livelihood have become unemployed.
Ahsan Habib noted that the sugar of the mill was very fresh and wholesome compared to what the private companies sell in the local markets.
Machinery and sugarcane carrying vehicles are getting rusted as they are left inoperative for a year.
The damage to the equipment would incur a heavy loss for the government.
“We sent a project proposal to the ministry concerned to set up a distillery plant, compost fertilizer plant, mineral water plant, juice plant of Harivhanga mango, and also develop a resort centre in the mill complex to keep up commercial activity, but no avail,” said Habib.
The mills in which sugarcane processing remain suspended include Pabna Sugar Mills Ltd, Shyampur Sugar Mills Ltd, Setabganj Sugar Mills Ltd, Kushtia Sugar Mills Ltd, Panchagarh Sugar Mills Ltd and Rangpur Sugar Mills Ltd.
Sugarcane Farmers Welfare Association General Secretary Mehedi Hasan Sagor said around 10,000 farmers and 1,00,000 other beneficiaries were involved in sugarcane farming and depended on the mill.
“The shutdown is a heavy burden for us. We have become unemployed and been leading a miserable life,” he added.
Workers and growers went on movement protesting the closure and submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister demanding resumption of the mill, but no steps have been taken.
A security guard Mahfuz Rahman, who worked on temporary basis for the mill, said he lost his job as the mill went shut.
“I along with my family have been leading an inhuman life,” according to Mahfuz.
Anil Kumar, who was a gardener of the mill made similar observations.
Shop owner Milon Mian in the area said a market was developed in front of the mill; there had been a huge trade and commerce every day in the market, but as the market is closed, the shop owners and traders have fallen on hard times.
Shyampur Sugar Mills Employees Union former General Secretary Bulu Amin said the closure of the mill left thousands of people unemployed.
Many employees who went on retirement have not yet got their retirement benefits from the mill authorities while the existing employees are not getting their salaries for the last six months, he argued.
Amin observed that sugarcane crashing would likely start on November 26 in other mills, but no steps have yet been taken regarding the opening of this mill, which was mainly closed to pave the way for importing sugar that serves some vested interests.
Ajgar Ali, an employee of the mill who got admitted to Rangpur Medical College Hospital, said he was undergoing treatment for health complications but he has no money.
The employees in the mill were not getting salary for the last six months, he added.
A sugarcane farmer Shamsujjaman Mian held that the government suspended sugarcane processing in the mill last year. They would lose interest to cultivate sugarcane if the mill remains shut.
