HYDERABAD, Jan 30: Labour and political leaders have accused the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association and owners of sugar mills of destroying the sugar industry of Sindh.

They warned that the industrial units failing to give employment to the locals would not be allowed to function.

They were speaking at a symposium on Sindh's sugar industry organized by the National Labour Federation at the press club on Sunday.

The president of the NLF, Sindh, Mr Hakim Halepoto, said 70 per cent of the country's sugar economy was based in Sindh and the PSMA was trying to destroy it at the behest of Punjab.

He said the PSMA had introduced a brokerage system in sugar mills to exploit farmers of Sindh by fixing prices of its choice. He said the cane production had been reduced from 320 million maunds to 210 million due to the anti-farmer attitude of the PSMA.

Mr Halepoto warned that if the problems were not solved, the farmers would be forced to switch over to other crops which would render millions of people jobless. He alleged that after the destruction of Sindh's cotton and textile industry, a conspiracy had been hatched to transfer the sugar mills to Punjab.

Condemning the stereotypical attitude of the employers to the Sindhis, Mr Halepoto warned that if any industrial unit failed to employ the locals would not be allowed to function.

He stressed the need for launching a joint struggle to save Sindh's textile and sugar industry and agriculture economy. Tehrik-i-Insaf leader Hassan Pathan said the mill owners were earning billions of rupees but they were loath to pay adequate price of cane to growers and just wages to workers.

He warned that if the mill owners did not change their attitude, the growers would switch over to other crops and billions of rupees investment would go waste. JSQM leader Javed Halepoto alleged that the outsiders were committing robbery on jobs of the Sindhis and they themselves remain unemployed and poor.

He urged the Sindhis to emulate the Baloch and launch a joint struggle against the usurpation of their rights. PML-N leader Sikandar Ali called upon the political parties to unite on one platform to save the cotton and sugary economy of Sindh.

The gathering adopted several resolutions, demanding abolition of the contract system and the brokerage system in the sugar industry. It demanded that working hours in industrial units should be reduced from 12 hours to eight hours, arrears of quality premium should be paid to sugarcane growers and only the locals should be recruited in public and private enterprises.

It appealed to the Chief Justice of the Sindh High Court to take suo motu action of alleged corruption in labour and sugarcane departments and illegal contract system.

Yet another resolution demanded provision of free education, health and residential facilities for industrial workers and fixation of minimum wages at Rs6,000 per month. The gathering demanded that any army operation in Balochistan should be stopped.