SWABI: Growers have demanded of the Pakistan Tobacco Board to increase the compensation amount significantly in case a curing furnace is gutted to help them rebuild the one and avoid unnecessary financial losses.

Talking to Dawn here on Monday, Liaqat Yousafzai, central general secretary of Kashtkar Coordination Council, said that PTB paid from Rs25,000 to Rs30,000 for a single burnt furnace, which was very nominal as a furnace required about Rs1 million to be built.

It is pertinent to mention here that a total of 60 Virginia tobacco curing furnaces have caught fire from June till date, inflicting about Rs144 million financial loss on growers, farmers and Rescue 1122 officials claimed.

The growers said the common cause of fires was falling of leaves on the central pipe of the furnace. They said once a furnace caught fire then controlling the blaze was almost impossible because it engulfed the structure within no time.

The growers said construction of a furnace cost Rs1 million.

Haq Nawaz, whose tobacco curing furnace was turned into ashes recently, said losing furnace during the critical period of crop curing was a huge loss to him. “Once you lose your furnace you cannot build another immediately, so your harvested crop gets spoiled.

The only option is to beg another farmer to free his for you.”

VISIT: Swabi additional assistant commissioner-II Zeeshan Najeeb paid a surprise visit to a rural health centre and inspected the availability of medicines and facilities at the laboratory and the OPD there, according to a statement issued on Monday.

The visit was conducted as part of the provincial government’s agenda to provide adequate health facilities to the people at the grassroots level.

He also listened to the complaints of the patients and reported them to the district health officer for redressal.

Mr Najeeb said that the district administration was ensuring the provision of quality health facilities in government hospitals of Swabi.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2024