HYDERABAD, Jan 7: The Sindh Abadgar Board has said the decisions, taken at the Jan 4 tripartite meeting of growers, sugar mill owners and representatives of the Sindh government, are not being implemented.

This was observed at a meeting of the board, held here on Tuesday, which was presided over by its president, Abdul Majeed Nizamani.

The meeting warned the federal government that if a final decision was not immediately taken by the cabinet in this regard, it would create great unrest not only among the growers and the mill owners but also among the farm workers, as a result of which the standing sugarcane crop would be totally destroyed.

Expressing unhappiness over the steps, taken by the government, as well as over the decisions, taken at the tripartite meeting, the participants of the meeting said that the Sindh government had agreed that the surplus stock of sugar should be exported to overcome the crisis, besides giving rebate and concessions in the general sales tax to the sugar mill owners.

The participants of the meeting were of the opinion that to save the agriculture sector of Sindh from destruction, the mill owners should be given a rebate of Rs6 per kilogramme and GST on sugar should be reduced by at least eight per cent, to enable the sugar mill owners to dispose of the surplus stock.

The meeting further demanded that the sugar mills should be provided with working capital at concessional rates to enable them to make payments to the growers at the notified rates of Rs43 per 40kg as well as the premium.

It further said that if the situation remained unchanged, sugarcane would not be cultivated on a single acre of land next year as a result of which Rs60 billion, which had been spent on the installation of mills, would go down the drain.

The meeting urged the stake holders to pay attention to the vital issue.

Meanwhile, the Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party accused the government of destroying the sugarcane growers, sugar mills and farm workers and creating famine like conditions in the province.

Leaders of the party, Hoath Khan Gadhi and Hassan Samo, said this while talking to various delegations of growers, farm workers and industrial workers at the Taraqqi Pasand House here on Monday.

Expressing solidarity with the sugarcane growers and the workers, the STPP leaders urged the government to take immediate steps to resolve the important issue and save the growers, the mill owners and the workers from economic destruction.