Mandya:  In a bid to revive the ailing MySugar factory,  the State Government has appointed IAS Officer Thrilok Chandra as its new Managing Director (MD) in place of M.N. Ajay Nagabhushan in an order issued yesterday.

Even General Manager (GM)  Boregowda is replaced by K. Kannan as Boregowda is going to retire in February.

MySugar In-charge Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) R. Aishwarya said that Thrilok Chandra who is on leave is likely to take charge on Monday.

The factory started crushing sugarcane on Aug. 23, 2018 and had crushed 1.30 tonnes of sugarcane and produced 80,000 quintal of sugar, till Dec. 15, 2018.

It may be mentioned that CM   Kumaraswamy had said that it was difficult to restore MySugar one of the iconic industries in Mandya district which is on the brink of closure after Mandya National Paper Mill at Belagola in Srirangapatna taluk and Mandya Acetate and Chemicals near Mandya, which had shut down decades ago

The CM had said that the government had decided to establish a new factory with the latest technology, in Mandya. The new factory, besides producing sugar, will also produce ethanol to help farmers, the CM added.

Mandya Sugar Factory, popularly known as ‘MySugar,’ said to be the first of its kind in Asia, seems to be all set for closure as the Government is said to have asked the factory Management  to halt operations from January.

The MySugar factory was running under loss, year after year and the Government, in a bid to revive it had pumped Rs. 20 crore a few months ago, following which crushing operations had begun. But despite this, the Sugar Mill is slipping into the red and the Government is said to have begun moves to shut it down.

With the over a century-old sugar factory slipping into the red, the Management is said to have come up with a VRS plan for the employees, which has lent more credence to rumours that the Sugar Mill will be shut down permanently.

Following the Management offer, 112 out of the 318 employees have applied for VRS, while the remaining 206 are said to have declined the offer. Apart from 318 permanent staff, there are 30 outsourced employees and 150 daily wagers.

However, the farming community opposed the establishment of the new factory and opined that it is an irresponsible move to shut down the iconic sugar factory.

With the Management is facing a cash crunch and with no funds in hand, a question has now risen on how the Management will pay compensation to  the employees. Adding to the woes, a huge stock of sugar is said to be lying unsold in the factory.

While the Government has gone into a silent mode after sanctioning Rs.20 crore, the employees claim that they have not been paid salaries for 5-6 months.

The Government has also worked out a plan to run the factory by entering into a PPP (Public-Private-Partnership) with private parties.