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HYDERABAD, Nov 11: The sugarcane growers will hold a protest demonstration outside the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday (today) against the delay in the start of sugarcane crushing season by the sugar mills.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the Sindh Sugarcane Growers Association held here on Monday at the residence of secretary-general of the association, Ghulam Nabi Morai.
The meeting discussed problems confronting the sugarcane growers and attributed the delay in the start of the crushing season to the inefficiency of the Sindh government.
The meeting urged the growers to gather at the Karachi Press Club at 10:30am from where they would march to the Sindh Assembly.
The growers demanded that the minimum price of sugarcane should be fixed at Rs43 per maund, quality premium and dues should be paid should be paid to them without further delay.
The meeting resolved to continue the protest till the acceptance of the demands.
Those who attended the meeting included SSGA president MNA Syed Qurban Ali Shah, and leaders, Zain Shah, Bashir Serewal, Anwar Bachani, Aslam Baloch and others.
SNP: The Sindh National Party announced here on Monday to launch the “save sugarcane movement” from Nov 16 if the decision to reduce the sugarcane price was not withdrawn and sugar mills were not started by Nov 15.
Speaking at a news conference at the press club, party chairman Ameer Bhambhro, deputy general secretary, Akbar Memon, Anwar Khoso, and others condemned the attitude of sugar mill owners, saying that as a result, the growers and farm and mill workers were suffering.
They said 27 operational mills could crush 3.2 million maunds of sugarcane and harvesting charges of the sugarcane came to Rs9.6 million which directly benefited the farm workers.
The SNP leaders said that transportation charges of the sugarcane crop came to Rs15 million per day whereas the amount of quality premium for the current season alone came to Rs1350 million.
They said that due to the decrease in the sugarcane price from Rs43 to Rs41 per 40 kilogramme, stakeholders were being made to suffer a loss of Rs740 million, keeping in view the fact that the expected production of sugarcane was 370 million maunds.
They said that the growers would suffer huge losses due to the loss of weight of the crop being caused by the delay in harvesting. Not only this, the SNP leaders added, but wheat sowing would also be delayed which could create wheat crisis in the country.
They demanded that the decision to reduce the sugarcane price should be withdrawn, the mills should be made operational by Nov 15, the dues of the growers should be paid without further delay, the broker system should be eliminated and the mill owners who violated the Sugarcane Factories Act-1950 should be prosecuted.
