Industries Minister opens additional class rooms A bagasse-based cogeneration power unit of 15MW capacity will be set up at the Moongilthuraipattu Cooperative Sugar mill, according to P. Thangamani, State Industries Minister. Addressing a meeting of the sugarcane officers during his visit to the mill on Saturday, the Minister asked the officials to speed up work on the power plant and make it operational by December. Lamenting that there was a shortfall in the sugarcane area coverage under the mill, he asked the officials to set it right soon. The sugarmill had been given the target of bringing a total of 15,400 acres of sugarcane crop under its purview, but so far only 14,717 acres had been covered. The onus was now on the sugarcane officers to persuade more number of sugarcane growers to enrol with the sugar mill, he said. Farmer’s contributions Earlier, Mr. Thangamani inaugurated the additional class rooms built at a cost of Rs. 25 lakh and a community hall constructed at a cost of Rs. 10 lakh on the premises of the sugar mill. He pointed out that these structures had come up by the contributions made by the farmers attached to the sugar mill. He underscored the point that only with public participation the success of any organisation could be ensured, and the Moongilthuraipattu farmers had set an example in this regard. Referring to the good performance of the sugar mill-run school Mr. Thangamani said, “Nowadays the government-run schools outperform the private schools.” He pointed out that for improving the standard of education, the State government had earmarked a sum of Rs. 17,000 to the education department. It was felt that the prerequisite for achieving good academic results was to fill up the teacher vacancies. Accordingly the government had recently appointed 50,000 teachers, he said. Mr. Thangamani, along with Rural Industries Minister P. Mohan, visited the Kallakurichi-II Cooperative Sugar mill also. Both the Ministers inspected the functioning of every section of the mill, including the sugarcane stockyards, the boilers and packaging sections.