BADIN, Nov 4: Complete strike was observed in Golarchi town on Tuesday in response to a call for protest given by the Abadgars Action Committee against declining prices of paddy and role of commission agents.

All retail shops, bazaars, markets, vegetable market and trade centres remained closed as hundreds of growers arrived in the town from Khorwah, Ahmed Rajo, Tarai and other towns and villages adjoining Golarchi.

They blocked all the roads leading to different towns by parking criss-crossed their trolleys, tractors and pickups laden with paddy, bringing traffic on Karachi-Badin, Kario and other main towns to a halt for several hours.

The protesters marched on the main thoroughfares of the town and observed sit-ins at the roundabouts before assembling outside the press club.

Grower leaders Dawood Shah, Rafique Memon, Malik Asif and Jakhro Nohani accused rice millers of monopolising the business and compelling them to sell paddy at Rs400 to Rs500 per 40 kilogram.

They said that the commission agents had purchased paddy at Rs700 per 40 kg a few days ago but now they were offering only Rs450 to Rs500 per 40 kg, which was not reasonable given high cost of inputs.

They warned they would continue protests if rate of paddy was not fixed at Rs1,000 to Rs1,200 per 40 kg.

The rice millers of the town supported growers, saying that they were ready to buy their paddy produce at the rate of their choice if they were assured that the government would purchase the paddy at reasonable price.

They said that since the government was not buying paddy from them they were forced either to stop purchasing paddy or buy it from growers at low rate.

The commission agents said that they could not offer high price for paddy because they had still not cleared paddy stocks from last year.

Most of the big landlords have stocked paddy in their godowns and not preferred to sell it at this stage, much to the disadvantage of small growers who complained that they had to sell off their produce at any rate because they could not keep it in open fields for long and risk its getting stolen.