TSOILFED to revive closed oil mill in Beechupalli

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Co-Op Oilseeds Growers Federation (TSOILFED) is all set to give good news to the ground nut farmers in the State.

According to the State Agriculture Department sources, after 17 years of languishing with an uncertain future the Beechupally Oil Mills is going to be reopened.

Speaking to The Hans India, sources said that Sri Vijayavardhini Cooperative Oil Seeds Growers Society in Beechupally in Jogulamba Gadwal district started an oil mill in about 13,000 square yards in 94.36 acres belonging to the society in 1996.

The mill which was started in 1996 with the help of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), however, was shut down under with a mounting debt burden of about Rs 26.31 crore. Following this, the State government in the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh had issued orders for the closure of the mills in May 2002.

The Agriculture Department officials said change in the policy and importing oil palm was one among the main reasons that hit the operations of the mills. It may be mentioned here that reviving the oil mills was one of the demands in the district during the movement for sperate Telangana.

Giving effect to fulfil the long pending demand, Agriculture Minister S Niranjan Reddy had directed the TSOILFED to take up the issue of settling Rs 26.31 crore debt that the oil mills owe to the NDDB.

Following this, the negotiations between the officials of the TSOILFED and NDDB have ended in clearing the pending dues as an one-time settlement.

Officials said that the TSOILFED proposed to clear Rs 15.05 crore under the interest and Rs 11.26 crore towards the principle under a one-time settlement process.

"The same has been agreed by the NDDB paving way for the TSOILFED to run the mills," sources said. Agriculture Minister Niranjan Reddy said that efforts were being made in line with Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's vision of giving a boost to the food processing industries in the State.

Mahbubnagar has the highest ground nut cultivators in the State. Besides, Nagarkurnool and Wanaparthy in the district have registered highest ground nut production in the country for the last three years.

Reopening of the mill would help the ground nut farmers to provide the raw material to the mill and in turn to earn the much-needed MSP to their agriculture produce, he said.