SWABI: Tobacco growers have rejected the companies’ decision to reduce their purchasing quota for the upcoming year and vowed to cultivate the crop as per their plan.

This was stated by Kisan Board (KB) members while speaking at a meeting here on Monday. They said tobacco was the only cash crop and that it was responsibility of the buyers to purchase full produce from the growers.

The KB members said livelihood of about 60 per cent people was directly or indirectly linked with the tobacco cultivation, and reducing purchasing quota without providing them any alternative means would have far-reaching impact on them.

They demanded that both the federal and provincial governments take steps for protecting the rights of farmers instead of harming their income sources. On the occasion, Samad Safi, the board’s provincial general secretary, said the Pakistan Tobacco Board and other purchasing companies made such decisions that harmed the growers’ interests.

Khalid Khan, the board’s district president, said PTB only supported the purchasing firms at the cost of poor farmers. He said representatives of farmers were not given any representation in the board’s decision making bodies.

Meanwhile, in a statement on Monday, Anjuman-i-Kashthkaran leaders said the government and companies should not push the growers against the wall. They said thousands of people were associated with tobacco crop and that their interests should be protected.

TWO KILLED: Two people were killed in different incidents on Monday, said police.

Mohammad Riaz, a welder in GIK Institute’s AC plant, was seriously injured in road incident on the Swabi-Mardan road. He was taken to Bacha Khan Hospital Complex, Shamansoor, where he died. The deceased belonged to Bannu. In the second incident, Hamid Khan was killed by unidentified assailants when they opened fire on him in Shewa Adda. Kalu Khan police registered an FIR against unknown culprits and started investigations.

WELCOMED: Khidmat-i-Mazooran Tanzeem on Monday welcomed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s decision to increase the special persons’ job quota in public sector departments from two to four per cent. Speaking at a meeting, Sher Rehman, the body’s chief, said it was a revolutionary step of the government to increase the quota to provide an opportunity to the disabled people to earn their livelihood with dignity.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2018