HYDERABAD, Sept 29: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, at its weekly meeting held here on Sunday, urged the government to direct sugar mill owners to pay Rs43 per 40kg of sugarcane to farmers which had been pending till date.

Syed Qamaruzzaman Shah presided over the meeting which also urged the provincial government to implement its own decision regarding payment of outstanding arrears of quality premium to the growers without any further delay.

It called upon the government to direct the owners to operate their mills before Oct 15 according to the Sindh Sugar Factories Control Act.

It also demanded that Sindh be declared a calamity-hit area and farmers be exempted from payment of land revenue, water charges, agriculture income tax and loans of ADBP, ZTB and other banks.

The meeting appealed to the government to control the prices of agricultural inputs and ensure the supply of quality seeds and pesticides.

HDA: The Hyderabad Development Authority director-general has said that new housing schemes on government lands should be announced to prevent permanent occupation of lands.