Flawed process spoils quality of produce at MySugar

The sugar manufactured this year at Mysore Sugar (MySugar) Company here is said to be sub-standard and there are no takers for it.

The MySugar factory, which has not functioned properly for the past four years, started crushing sugarcane on August 23, with an aid of Rs 20 crore from the government. Despite several problems and a few breaks, the factory crushed 1.08 lakh tonnes of sugarcane and produced 59,772 tonnes of sugar. However, the sugar has turned into too-fine crystals and brownish in colour. The product has also not got certificates from the labs. The company invited tenders five times, but there were no takers. It pushed the produce into the open market. There too, traders did not show interest. Now, the company plans to sell the sugar to biscuit factories, confectionaries or jaggery units.

An engineer in the factory said the inexperience of the chemists was the main cause for the production of sub-standard sugar. “Most of the machinery in the factory should be manually set and adjusted. The company recently hired highly qualified persons, offering high salaries. But, they do not have industry experience. For most of them, this is the first sugar factory exposure. When the employees brought the issue to their notice, they gave an arrogant reply, saying sugar should just be sweet and colour was not an issue. No official is concerned about the issue,” said an employee.

Another employee said due to the flawed process of sugar production, excess molass has been produced.

“For every one lakh tonne of sugarcane crushed, 4,000 tonnes of molasses (4%) is produced normally. Due to technical problems, the machines had stopped on several occasions. By the tim, the machines resumed work, the sugarcane juice stored in the tankers was spoilt. Thus, excess molass was produced. This also causes a loss to the company,” he said.

General manager of MySugar Company Boregowda was not available for comment.