NIZAMABAD: Reiterating the Congress government’s commitment to reopening the Nizam Deccan Sugars Limited (NDSL) units, Industries and IT Minister D Sridhar Babu on Saturday said that an action plan would be made public after the conclusion of field visits and interactions with all stakeholders.
The state government had appointed a committee with Sridhar Babu as the chairman and MLAs, MLCs, and state government officials as members to look into the modalities of reopening the NDSL units. The committee visited the NDSL unit in Bodhan town on Saturday to inspect the various wings of the NDSL, including the distillery.
Later, the committee interacted with farmers, leaders of various people’s organisations and political parties. This was the first such meeting after the NDSL management announced layoffs in December 2015.
During the meeting, representatives of different organisations gave diverse opinions. While some advocated for involvement of the cooperative sector, others suggested a government takeover while another section was in favour of private management.
Addressing the financial challenges faced by NDSL, the minister highlighted the need to find solutions to get assets seized by banks released. He said that the committee aims to discuss these issues with the public and experts and prepare a comprehensive report on the reopening of NDSL units that will be presented to the chief minister.
Stressing the government’s determination to explore all possible avenues for the revival of NDSL units, the minister said that the committee plans to recommend measures to encourage farmers to cultivate sugarcane by providing all help.
Sridhar Babu also spoke of the Congress government’s track record, saying that it is implementing its guarantees. “The Congress has been making efforts for the revival of NDSL since 2014. In contrast, the previous government did not take any such step during its 10-year tenure. If things work out, we want to reopen the sugar factories within 30 days,” the minister said.
Sridhar Babu also criticised the BJP government at the Centre for its inaction over the past decade. “During his visit to Nizamabad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not speak about the closed sugar factories. We will raise the issue in Parliament if we have our MP from Nizamabad,” he said.