MUZAFFARGARH: The brother of MNA Jamshed Dasti was arrested for allegedly stealing trees of the forest department on Sunday.

Mushtaq Dasti, also known as Pehlwan Dasti, and his two accomplices were arrested when forest guard Alamgir called Civil Lines police. Station House Officer Shahid Rizwan claimed he received a call at 3am on Sunday and reached Din Pur where Mushtaq was cutting trees of the forest department. He said his team arrested Mushtaq as well as two of his accomplices, while three others fled from the scene.

A case was registered under Section 379 of the PPC. When the news broke, a large number of people gathered at the police station.

CRUSHING: Farmers have said that sugarcane crushing is supposed to start after Nov 15, however no date has been fixed yet. The government has also not fixed cane price, while farmers were still waiting for their payments from last season. The district administration seemed helpless and claimed that Haseeb Waqas mills had been closed on court orders.

Haseeb Waqas sugar mills owed the farmers Rs120 million. Chief Accountant of the mill A.B. Shaheen claimed that the owners had moved court over the closure and were waiting for a verdict.

The farmers feared that if the mill was shut down or shifted to Nankana Sahib, their dues would be lost. Some of them said that last week the mills administrations called farmers and asked them to join the protest against the closure and offered them their dues. They further said the next crushing season was supposed to start soon but the ruling party had stopped their payments.

Meanwhile, the cane department of Tandlianwala Sugar Mills has been bargaining with brokers over vehicle permits. A tractor trolley loaded with sugarcane was not allowed to enter the mill without a permit that was sold for Rs1,000 per vehicle, which was illegal last year.

Farmers said the government should take action against illegal permits to irresponsible officials and ensure permits were given for free to actual farmers.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2017