Chennai, Jan 6 (IANS): Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and Chief Coordinator of opposition AIADMK, O. Paneerselvam (OPS) has called upon the DMK government to immediately intervene in the resumption of work at National Cooperative Sugar mills in Madurai district for the sake of 10,000 cane farmers and 500 workers.

In a letter to Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin, the former Chief Minister said that the previous AIADMK government had provided assistance of around Rs 39.32 crore to the mill in the previous two years when there was less cane availability and poor rainy seasons.

The AIADMK leader said that there was a stock of 60,000 tonnes of registered sugar cane and 17,000 tonnes of unregistered sugar cane due to the heavy rains that the state received during the present season.

He said that the mills' management had sought an amount of Rs 22 crore for crushing operations to commence and added that around 70 per cent of the work before the beginning of the crushing season has been carried out.

The former Chief Minister said that the government intervention in the affairs of the mill by pumping in money would benefit around 10,000 cane farmers of the district as well as 500 workers of the sugar mill directly. He said that in addition to this the government largesse will help transporters and also agricultural workers who would benefit indirectly from this.