Page 39 - Gujar Mal Modi

ests in the land owing class. But Mr. Modi would not listen to the suggestion that

Harijan labour should be ousted from the factory to appease the irate landlord
community. Instead, he rendered financial assistance to the Hariian workers.

The forces of nature too appeared to pose a challenge to the young entrepre-

neur. The year 1934 saw the failure of mon soon and the consequent failure of
the sugarcane crop. Added to this was the attack of frost which ruined whatever

prospects of the crop were left. This meant a period of crisis for the sugar indus-
try. There were two alternatives now, either the factory should be closed down

or sugarcane should be transported from far-flung areas of Hardoi, Shahjahan-
pur and Bareilly.

Sugar mills in Meerut and Mohiuddinpur, too, were facing a similar crisis and the
impression was gaining ground that it was impossible to run sugar factories in

Western Uttar Pradesh. One industrialist from Delhi came forward with the sug-
gestion that if all the factories in the area were put under his control, he would

be able to solve their problems. But Mr. Modi decided to test his luck alone.

While Mr. Modi was facing adverse circumstances at Modinagar, conditions at Pa-
tiala were no better. In the absence of the enterprising son, the father had been

incurring heavy losses in his industries and the army supply contract business.
Whatever little was earned from the managing agency business was neutralised

by the heavy losses sustained at Patiala. This had given a big jolt to the father
who sent a frantic call to his son to come and help him. The young Gujarmal de-

cided not to lose heart in the face of the mounting difficulties.

The third crushing season saw Mr. Modi sitting with his fingers crossed. This sea-

son, too, production of sugarcane had been much below the estimate. The prof-
its made during the months of January and February had been offset by the loss

incurred during March and the only alternative now was either to bring sugar-
cane from other areas or to close the factory earlier and face losses and admit

defeat.

Besides, Mr. Modi faced another kind of difficulty also. The sugarcane brought
from far-flung areas gave less sugar because of inversion in the juice. As a result,

the production of sugar was less and the percentage of molasses increased. This

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