Two sugar mills to be revived by cooperative department: Minister

Patna: State’s cooperative minister Pramod Kumar on Tuesday said two of the nine closed sugar mills would now be revived and run by the cooperative department as part of the Bihar govt’s recent decision to revive nine old sugar mills besides setting up 25 new ones across the state as part of its “Saat Nischay-3” programme.Addressing a press conference at the Vikas Bhavan here, the minister said, “We have just received a proposal to run two sugar mills namely—Sakri in Madhubani and Raiyam in Darbhanga. The cooperative department will proceed to make a mill-wise plan, soon after the two sugar mills are formally transferred to us.”“As part of the state govt’s resolve under “Saat Nischay-3”, it was decided to revive nine old closed sugar mills, besides opening 25 new ones. It was also decided that the two mills would be run by the cooperative department,” the minister said.The minister was accompanied by the department’s secretary Dharmendra Singh, additional secretary Abhay Kumar Singh and other senior officials during the press conference.“As and when the two sugar mills will be transferred to the cooperative department, only then we will proceed to make a mill-wise plan,” cooperative secretary Dharmendra Singh said. “We are currently coordinating with sugar cane industries department in this regard,” the secretary said.“A high-level committee, headed by chief secretary Pratyaya Amrit, recently decided that the cooperative department should work for operating two sugar mills, for which it is carrying out its preparations,” Singh said.As of 2025, there are 18 closed sugar mills in Bihar. Out of these, 15 were originally state-run under the Bihar State Sugar Corporation.In Nov 2025, the newly formed NDA govt, led by CM Nitish Kumar, approved a plan to revive nine closed mills and establish 25 new ones. A high-level committee led by the chief secretary was formed in Dec to oversee this process.Of the proposed nine mills listed for revival, seven—Raiyam (Darbhanga), Sakri (Madhubani), Samastipur, Motipur (Muzaffarpur), Marhaura (Saran), and Barachakia (East Champaran) and Chanpatia (West Champaran) are in public sector, while remaining two—Motihari and Sasamusa (Gopalganj)—are in private sector.