HYDERABAD: The Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) has sought Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s intervention into the alleged violation of the Sugar Factories Control Act, 1950 by owners of certain sugar mills in Sindh.

SAB vice president Mahmood Nawaz Shah, in his letter sent to the PM on Friday, drew the prime minister’s attention to what he described as the ‘blatant violation’ of the law by sugar mills in Sindh.

Under the Act, he said sugar mills had to start operation of their mills in October and the rate of sugar cane was to be notified by the Sindh government.

The Sindh government delayed commencement of crushing season until Nov 14, 2014.

The mills did not start cane crushing and approached the Sindh High Court against the rate, i.e. Rs182 per 40kg, fixed by the government.

Mr Shah said that the Sindh government without taking stakeholders in confidence issued another notification on Dec 3, 2014 fixing the rate at Rs155 per 40kg to please sugar mills. Due to protests by growers, the Sindh government had to withdraw the Dec 3 notification and restore the earlier one, he said.

Sugar mills again approached the SHC, which ruled that the notification fixing the rate at Rs155 per 40kgs was illegal. He said that since then, mills had been paying Rs155 per 40kg to growers.

He said growers were being exploited while small and medium sized growers who used to sow wheat in December were being deprived of their crop. The government of Sindh seemed to be hands in glove with sugar mills, he added.

He said that growers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab were getting a rate of Rs180 per 40 kgs and cane crushing there had been continuing without any problem since October. “Commendable as it is, Punjab is facilitating and ensuring growers of rate, weight, and payments. In the Sindh Assembly, issue of sugar cane is not being allowed to be taken up while peaceful demonstration of growers is ending up on deaf ears.”

He said that middlemen with the connivance of mills were exploiting growers to sell sugar cane at Rs120 to Rs140 per 40 kgs.

The SAB leader said that Sindh’s economy was being ruined in contravention of the Sugar Factories Control Act, 1950.

“Understandably, after 18th amendment Sindh government is responsible for this matter but after exhausting all remedies growers are seeking your intervention in the matter. We as citizens of Pakistan have the right to reach out to you,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2015

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