NSF may be revived with MP Kavitha’s initiative

​Nizamabad: There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for the workers of the Nizam Sugar Factory (NSDL) who have pinned their hopes on the Nizamabad MP K Kavitha to take up their issue with the State government and reopen their factory.

With the high profile MP assuring the workers that the government would take a favourable decision on the factory within a few days, they see a ray of hope.

The recent statement of Kavitha that the State government would restructure the entire sugar factory and run it under the cooperative societies has become a topic of discussion and they are persuading the sugarcane growers to agree to the proposal. She even called the sugarcane growers to Hyderabad and held discussions with them.

If they start sowing sugarcane crop this month, it would be ready for yield by the next season. By that time, the machinery in the factory would be made ready.

The Nizam Sugar Factory set up in Bodhan in the year 1938 has seen several ups and downs in its chequered history. Although, it grew up into a big organisation setting up eight industries, the rulers started selling them away one by one after 1990 unable to bear the financial burden.

The sugar factories in Medak, Bodhan and Metpalli were handed over to the private parties in 2002 with the government limiting its share to 49 % while giving 51 % to the private sector.

However, the year 2015 will remain as a dark year in the history of Nizam Sugar Factory as the management declared a lockout and threw thousands of employees on the streets.

While the workers lost their jobs, farmers starting cultivating other crops instead of sugarcane though 70,000 tonnes of sugarcane were still being irrigated.

Recently, the Opposition parties like the Congress, BJP, the CPI, CPM, TDP and others have been organizing protest meetings and bandh in Bodhan town demanding the reopening of the NSF.

The T-JAC chief Prof M Kodanda Ram decided to undertake a walkathon form Bodhan to the district headquarters to press the government to reopen the factory.

The TRS party has already promised to the electorate during the 2014 elections that it would reopen the factory within 100days of coming to power but still has not fulfilled its promise yet.

Taking these factors into consideration, the State government might take a favourable decision beneficial to the workers.

As the places where the Nizam Sugar Factory branches were set up are represented by MLAs belonging to the ruling TRS, the government is left with no other choice but to revive it.

However, Nizamabad Kavitha said that though the factory may be revived, the government would not run it taking over from the management and it would be handed over to the cooperative societies.

It is not clear still whether it would be handed over to the farmers or not. The farmers are not in a position to take up the responsibility of running it and the management is also not keen on reviving it.

They want to make as many profits as possible and discard the factory.However, the workers and farmers are keeping their fingers crossed.