FAISALABAD, Jan 15: Owners of the sugar mills are fleecing the sugar cane growers by employing different tactics causing huge financial losses to them.

Talking to newsmen here on Wednesday, a group of sugar cane growers complained that owners had set up weighing scales in and around their mills for purchasing produce at less rates as compared to the prices fixed by the government.

About their modus operandi, the growers pointed out that owners lured them to sell produce on cash payment at Rs35 per 40kg as against the government fixed price of Rs40 per 40kg at their procurement centres. They alleged that almost all weighing scales were adjusted in such a way that they weighed less.

They further complained that all such owners of weighing scales, who were agents of mills owners, immediately after purchasing the produce unloaded the produce on the premises of sugar mills without waiting for their turn.

Long queues of around three kilometres of tractor-trollies, trucks, and bullet carts could be seen in front of almost every sugar mills. Miseries of growers for unloading their produce on the premises of sugar mills could hardly be imagined as they had to wait for days for their turn. Despite suffering all this torture and agony, they were given the cash payment receipts CPRs) instead of payments.

Growers were asked to submit the cash payment receipts to authorised banks of mills which took further 15 to 45 days for the clearance of their dues.

In some cases, the CPR payments were delayed for three to four months as banks told growers that the list supplied by mills did not contain their names.

Agents of mills who roamed around banks and on mills premises bargained with growers and forced them to sell their CPRs on cash payment after the deduction of 10 to 15 per cent amount, they said.

Mills owners who claimed to be the most generous segment of society evolved unethical strategies to loot and rob the poor growers.

They said mills owners acquired working capital from banks and other financial institutions for purchasing sugar cane from the market and making payment to growers. However, such credits were being used in speculative business like yarn, cotton cakes and stock exchanges.

They said the time had come that growers should unite themselves and adopt a joint strategy against the mills owners who were depriving them of their legitimate financial right. They asked the president and the prime minister to direct authorities concerned to take notice of the situation.

They threatened that if the government failed to provide relief to growers, they would be left with no option but to stop cultivating cash crops.

Meanwhile, a joint team of Jaranwala police and administration arrested five people for purchasing sugar cane from growers at throwaway prices by claiming themselves as commission agents of sugar mills.

Waris Ali, Muhammad Azam of Chak 93-GB and Muhammad Shahbaz, Tufail, Arshad Ali of Chak 354-GB were purchasing sugar cane from growers at Rs5 less than the fixed prices outside a local sugar mills.

They were sent to jail after the registration of cases.