August 26, 2008	Tuesday	Sha'aban 23, 1429

LARKANA, Aug 25: Growers from different areas of the district held demonstrations outside the office of mukhtiarkar and on Lakhpat road here on Monday to protest against fertiliser shortage.

The protesters accused fertiliser dealers of black marketing and selling urea much above the government-fixed price. They said the government had fixed Rs635 per bag while the traders were selling it at Rs900 per bag. They regretted that this was being done under the nose of the government.

Non-availability of urea would definitely hit rice crop and the growers would be the sufferers, they said.

They called for selling urea at the government-fixed price and demanded easy availability of the agriculture input to save farmers and growers from future losses.

Our Sukkur correspondent adds: Hundreds of farmers held a demonstration outside the office of the Deputy District Officer (Revenue) and a sit-in at Clock Tower in Mirpur Mathelo on Monday to protest against artificial shortage of fertiliser and its sale at an enhanced price.

The farmers told journalists that they have to stand in queue for hours to get a chit of five to 10 bags of urea from DDO revenue Agha Ghulam Ali.

They alleged that the DDO was giving chits to his own men for purchasing 50 to 100 bags of urea at the rate of Rs650 per bag, which is later sold to growers at the rates ranging from Rs800 to Rs1,000 per bag.

They demanded immediate transfer of the officer and warned of a stronger protest movement.

Later, the protesters also staged a sit-in at the clock tower chowk for an hour, while shouting slogans against the DDO revenue.