GURDASPUR, Dec. 11 -- The Gurdaspur Cooperative Sugar Mill, equipped with a crushing capacity of up to 5,000 tonnes of cane per day (TCD), commenced operations on Wednesday.

The facility was formally inaugurated by Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on November 26. The state-of-the-art facility is poised to significantly strengthen the region's agro-industrial ecosystem, bringing relief to cane growers across the district, who will now be spared the hardship of travelling 60-70 kilometres to distant mills to sell their produce.

Local cane farmer Jagdev Singh of Chitti village said, "I came to the mill premises yesterday with my sugarcane trolley, and it was unloaded immediately. Now we will not have to travel outside the district to se...