Ministers, MPs absent on cane crushing inaugural

VELLORE: The annual crushing of sugarcane for the current year, which was inaugurated on Monday, turned out to be a damp squib as most VIPs whose names mentioned in the invitation stayed away from the event, sources revealed.

It may be recalled that crushing was originally slated for December 6, but was subsequently preponed to as it turned to be amp squib Karthigai Deepam day.

However, soon Minister Duraimurugan informed mill officials to wait till another date was announced. After waiting for a few days, invitations were printed that crushing would start at 9 am on Monday in the presence of Ministers Duraimurugan and R Gandhi, MPs S Jagatrakshakan and DM Kathir Anand and the collectors of Vellore, Ranipet, Tiruvannamalai and Tiruvallur districts.

The MLAs mentioned in the invitation, included P Karthikeyan (Vellore), AP Nandakumar (Anaicut), S Ravi (Arakkonam), AM Munirathinam (Sholingur), Amulu Vijayan (Gudiyattam), Poovai Jagan Moorthy (KV Kuppam) and Sevoor Ramachandran (Arani).

However, as the VIPs stayed away, Vellore Collector Kumaravel Pandian accompanied by Amulu Vijayan and Vellore Corporation zone I chairman Pushpalatha Vanniaraja did the honours by casting the first bundle of cane into the huge conveyor belt, which would, carry it to the crushing units inside the mill.