HYDERABAD, Sept 6: The Sindh Abadgar Board has demanded that growers of Badin and Thatta districts and other areas which have been declared calamity-hit should be exempted from paying loans.

At a meeting held here on Saturday, the working committee of the board further demanded that the growers should be given new loans repayable in easy instalments so that they could cultivate their lands.

The meeting said Badin and Thatta districts were producing oil and gas valued at Rs10 billion per annum and added that of this amount, Rs5 billion should be earmarked for adjusting agricultural loans and rehabilitation of the farming community.

The meeting expressed surprise that President Gen Pervez Musharraf who had himself rejected the Kalabagh dam three years back had raised the issue again. It rejected the arguments of the president at a meeting held in Karachi on Aug 25 in support of the dam project.

It demanded that instead of constructing the Kalabagh dam, 125,000 watercourses of the country should be lined in five years.

The SAB said if the watercourses were lined, 20.6 million acre feet water would be saved and problems of waterlogging and salinity would be solved.

It was of the opinion that if agriculture-friendly policies were introduced, the produce could be increased by 100 per cent and exports would also be significantly increased.

The meeting urged the government not to join the World Trade Organization as it would destroy the country’s economy.

It pointed out that the US, European Union, Japan, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Korea and India were giving subsidy to the agriculture sector to the tune of billions of rupees. It said Pakistan, under the present circumstances, was not in a position to compete these countries in the international market.

Deploring the negative attitude of sugar mills, it called upon the Sindh government to direct the mills to pay dues of growers amounting to billions of rupees by Sept 15.

It further demanded that the government should enforce the Sindh cabinet decision regarding starting the crushing season by Sept 25.

It said the government should also accept genuine demands of sugar mill owners such as reduction in general sales tax, export of surplus sugar, withdrawal of market committee fee and easy provision of loans.

The meeting condemned excesses of cotton ginners against growers of the Sanghar district in respect of deduction of one kilogramme of Phutti from 40 kilograms, inordinate increase in ginning charges and recovery of Rs6 per maund on the pretext of excise duty.

It said the Sanghar district government should intervene in the matter and stop the excesses of the cotton ginners.

Abdul Majeed Nizamani presided over the meeting.

TEACHERS SHORTAGE: The lack of teachers in most of the girls colleges in rural Sindh has deprived the girls students of their right to higher education.