LARKANA, Nov 23: Rice traders, millers and growers have demanded that the government should establish Passco centres in the rice-growing belt of the interior of Sindh and Balochistan to procure paddy.

The president of the Sindh- Balochistan Rice Millers and Traders Association, Gada Hussain Mahisar, was briefing the executive committee of the Larkana Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday.

Mr Mahisar said monopoly of the rice exporters’ association was harming the business of rice.

He said the association had reduced the rate of purchase of paddy from Rs1,350 to Rs1,200.

The president of the SBRMTA said that each rice mill was purchasing 20,000 kilograms of paddy daily on cash payment.

He said that in Larkana and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts the millers and traders were paying Rs560,000 in one day to purchase paddy on cash.

But the rice exporters’ association compelled them to sell it on 15 days credit, he alleged.

Mr Mahisar said banks were not giving loans to the millers, growers and traders which was affecting the trade of rice in the belt.

He said that the people connected with the business of paddy would stop their businesses if the banks did not give them loans.

LCCI president Mohammad Azam Shaikh said that the rice exporters purchase paddy from the traders at 15 days credit but the traders hardly get the payment in two months.

The executive committee of the LCCI stressed upon the rice exporters’ association to purchase paddy at reasonable rates and ensure cash payment to facilitate the traders, millers and growers.

Others who attended the meeting were Lakshmichand Ahuja, Anwar Ali Shaikh, Akbar Ali Shaikh, Bashir Ahmed, Hafiz Suleman and Jawed Qureshi.

The Shahdadkot Sindh Abdgar Board also demanded from the government to set up PASSCO centres to save them from huge losses.

The board was also against the low purchase rate of paddy.