VELLORE: Annual crushing of sugarcane in the Vellore sugar mill which was scheduled to start on Sunday (December 4) was put on hold following local minister ordering sugar officials to wait till he announced a fresh date, sources said. Though it was planned to start crushing on December 6, it was advanced to December 4 as the original date was the Karthigai Deepam day. It may be recalled that the dual boilers were fired nearly ten days ago by the unit’s cogeneration plant to ready the plant for crushing at a moment’s notice. However, all this went for a toss when mill officials – who refused to be named – were called up by the minister who ordered that crushing be started on a day he would announce. No information has been received until Saturday evening. The mill is governed by a board of directors led by chairman M Anandan most of whom are AIADMK members and this was the reason for the present friction, sources alleged.

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