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MIRPURKHAS, Oct 20: Ginners are exploiting cotton growers of the division by paying them much less than the rates fixed by the government as a result of which the latter are incurring huge losses. So there’s every likelihood of their switching over to other crops during the next season.
The government has fixed cotton (phutti) rates at Rs780 per maund, but growers are getting about Rs700 per maund for their produce.
About 15,000 cotton bales had also been purchased by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan, Mirpurkhas office, but the prices of phutti have remained unstable.
In the present situation, growers are incurring huge losses. The cost of production of cotton per acre including preparing of land with machines, fertilizers, pesticides, picking, etc., is Rs9,000 whereas per acre yield of cotton is 10 to 12 maunds.
This year less cotton was cultivated in comparison to last year.
A landlord, Pir Iqbal Jan Sarhandi, of Samaro sub-division, the vice president of the Sindh Abadgar Board, Haji Abdul Ghafoor Mehar, its general secretary, Imtiaz Panhwar, and the president of the chamber of agriculture, Mirpurkhas, Sher M Wassan (advocate), have called upon the higher authorities to intervene in the matter and ensure payment to the growers at government rates to save them from huge losses.
In a joint statement, they alleged that cotton ginners were deceiving them.
They urged the authorities concerned to order an inquiry into the illegal deductions by the ginners.
SCHOOL: A government primary school is functioning in a hut since 1952 in Digri Taluka.
The government primary school in Khairpur Muhammad Mugheri, Digri Taluka, was established in 1952, but so far the authorities concerned have failed to provide a building for the school. So the villagers were left with no alternative but to built a hut in which they started the school where 50 children are being educated.
Hundreds of new schools were sanctioned in the district during the last four decades. However, no building was approved for this school.
Several villagers told this correspondent that some years ago the then MPA Haji M Hayat Talpur and the then MNA Pir Aftab Hussain Shah Jilani among other politicians had promised the villagers that they would approach the authorities concerned so that a building could be provided for the school but nothing was done.
