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SUKKUR, Dec 15: Half-hearted measures by the Pakistan Agricultural Supplies and Storage Corporation (Passco) to establish paddy procurement centres and large-scale damage to stored paddy during recent rains, have left poor growers in Larkana and Balochistan to the mercy of rice mills.
Reports gathered from the rice producing belt, including Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Kashmore of Sindh and Dera Allah Yar and Naseerabad of Balochistan, said that paddy had been sown over 269,000 acres and it yielded 627,200 tons in Larkana region and 126,000 tons in the two districts of Balochistan.
The Sindh Abadgar Board’s information secretary G.M. Khoso told this correspondent on phone that Passco had announced establishing 150 procurement centres in Larkana alone but it had by far set up only 71 centres.
He said that farmers were sustaining millions of rupees loss after thousands of maunds of paddy stored in the open were damaged during recent rains and Passco further delayed setting up centres.
He said that farmers had complained to Sindh chief minister during his recent visit to Kashmore about attitude of Passco and then the chief minister announced forming purchase committees, which he said would work under the DCO and comprise revenue and agriculture officers, DSP and SHOs.
He termed the committees a mockery with poor growers and said the chief minister should instead have directed the Passco to establish more centres and purchase paddy at government rate of Rs700 per 40 kilograms.
He rejected the proposal for such committees and said that it would be very difficult for the poor growers to meet the high officers and seek permission for selling their yield.
He said that the only way out of this problem was for the government to ask the Trading Corporation of Pakistan to purchase rice from rice mills. The mill owners would then be able to purchase paddy from growers, otherwise the growers would be compelled to sell their yield at throwaway price, he said.
WALL COLLAPSE: A teenaged girl was crushed to death when a wall of her house in Bijar Abad village near Thull collapsed on her on Monday morning.
Hanifa alias Saira, daughter of Sachal Bhatti, was sleeping near the wall when it collapsed on her. She died on the spot.
Meanwhile, a man suffered serious injuries when he put up resistance to armed thieves who had broken into his house in katcha area near Rohri late on Sunday night.
The thieves were stealing valuable belongings after breaking into the house
of Karim Dino Mangrio when Karim
Dino woke up and put up resistance. The thieves opened fire on him and injured him seriously.
