November 24, 2002	Sunday	Ramazan 18, 1423

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NAWABSHAH, Nov 23: The Sindh Abadgar Board, Nawabshah, has demanded action against the sugar mill owners for delaying sugarcane crushing season and thus violating the Sindh government notification.

Talking to this scribe, patron of the SAB, Nawabshah, Syed Abdullah Shah, and press secretary, Syed Ali Mohammad Lakiyari deplored that millions of tons of standing sugarcane crop in Sindh was being destroyed due to the inordinate delay in the crushing season, despite the Sindh government notification to begin the crushing on Nov 15.

Three sugar mills of Nawabshah district — Habib Sugar Mills, Nawabshah; Al-Noor Sugar Mills, Shahpur Jehanian; and Sakrand Sugar Mills — also had failed to begin sugarcane crushing yet, they pointed out.

They said that delay in crushing season had caused unrest among the sugarcane growers and made it impossible for the farmers to cultivate coming wheat crop on time.

They said that the delay would incur heavy losses to the cane growers and give a setback to the economy of the province.

When contacted, general manager, Habib Sugar Mills, Mohammad Yousuf, said that the sugar mills could not begin the crushing on Nov 15 as they had received the notification only on Nov 14 and it took at least 10 days to start a mill.

He said that the managements of the sugar mills had sent a joint reply to the government notices and they were holding talks with the government and had asked it to fix the price of sugar.

He concluded: “The sugar mills will fire up their boilers on Sunday (today) and it is hoped that the crushing season will begin after Eid.”