SWABI: Small growers on Tuesday demanded of the government to announce a financial package for them as they had also been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking at a meeting here, they said the coronavirus outbreak had hit all the sectors, and they were no exception.

On the occasion, Alam Sher Gohati, general secretary of Anjuman-i-Kashtkaran, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said successive governments had claimed the agriculture was the backbone of the economy, but failed to help the growers in times of trouble. “The government is well aware of the weak financial position of the farmers, but is not formulating a policy aimed at helping them whenever they are affected by a calamity,” he regretted.

Liaqat Yousafzai, provincial general secretary of Kashtkar Coordination Council, said whenever the government announced any relief package for the small farmers the money went to the pockets of landlords.

Khalid Khan, Kisan Board district president, said the government should seriously consider the growers’ problems and help them.

The growers lamented that because of the apathy of the government many of them had switched to other traits. They said due to lockdown imposed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic they were unable to transport their products to the market.

BOY ELECTROCUTED: A teenage boy was electrocuted in Zaida village on Tuesday.

Police named the victim as Mohammad Ali, saying he was taken to Bacha Khan Hospital Complex, but doctors pronounced him dead.

Meanwhile, the police seized 4,809 grams of charas from a van during checking of vehicles on the Swabi-Jehangira Road.

Three persons, all residents of Taxila, were arrested, and a case was registered against them.

Also in the day, a drug dealer, Abdullah of Bhabhi Khel Zaida, was arrested and 1,105 grams of cannabis recovered from his possession.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2020