HYDERABAD: Sugar mills to face legal action: Delay in crushing
HYDERABAD, Nov 22: The Ministerial Committee of the Sindh government has asked the cane commissioner, Sindh, Mohammed Siddique Memon, to file cases in the relevant court against those sugar mills of the province which had failed to start cane crushing within a week of being issued show cause notices.
Mr Siddique while talking to the APP on Friday said that the ministerial committee of the provincial government, headed by the Sindh agriculture minister, Sardar Mohammed Muqeem Khan Khoso, finally took the decision in its meeting held on Thursday at Karachi.
He said that the decision has been taken in view of the delaying tactics of 27 sugar mills of the province in respect of starting cane crushing, which has caused unrest among the sugarcane growers.
He said that show cause notices had been served to the management of the 27 sugar mills on Nov 18, asking them to submit the causes of their failure in starting cane crushing on Nov 15, the date fixed by the Sindh government for starting the crushing season 2002-2003.
He said that if the management of these sugar mills failed to start cane crushing or reply stating the reason for the delay within a week’s time after issuance of the show cause notice, cases Under Section 21 of the Sugar Factories Control Act would be filed in the relevant court, and added that the defaulter may face either a one-year rigorous imprisonment or a fine of Rs100,000.
He said that the office of the cane commissioner, Sindh, while exercising the powers Under Section 8 of the Sugar Factories Control Act had asked the management of 27 sugar mills of the province to start cane crushing from Nov 15.
Mr Siddique said that the start of cane crushing in Sindh is scheduled the first October of every year, and added that however, in the past, the crushing season started from Oct 15 every year.
He said that this year the management of the sugar mills had requested the Sindh government to provide a loan of Rs500 million in meeting out their losses or grant permission for exporting 225,000 tons of surplus sugar, which they claimed remained undisposed.
He said that the management of the sugar mills moved the said request during a meeting with the governor, Sindh, Mohammedmian Soomro, who assured them to approach the Federal Commerce Ministry regarding it, and added that it has been learnt that the Federal Commerce Ministry had granted permission to the sugar mill owners for exporting their surplus stock.
He said that on Nov 14 the management of the sugar mills moved another request to attach sugarcane price with the open market price, which was not accepted by the Sindh government, and added that the government had fixed the minimum price of sugarcane as Rs43 per 40kg in the last crushing season and the same price had been fixed this year.
It may be mentioned here that the delay in starting the crushing season in all 27 sugar mills was causing great unrest among the sugarcane growers of the province.
A sugarcane grower of Tando Allahyar, Ghulam Nabi Bachani, said that millions of tons of sugarcane crops were standing in thousands of acres in the province and a month’s delay in the crushing season posed serious threat to the crops, which were likely to be destroyed.
He said that it was not the first time as since the last many years, the sugar mill owners had been delaying the crushing season on purpose and harassing the sugarcane growers in order to purchase sugarcane on their prices.
He demanded that the government must ensure protection for the rights of the sugarcane growers and initiate action against the sugar mill owners who had been delaying the cane crushing season this year also.—APP
