MIRPURKHAS, Oct 30: Four of the five sugar mills in the district have reportedly shut down their boilers and planned to start the crushing season after Nov 15.

Reports said that Mirpurkhas, Digri, Tharparkar, Al-Abbas and Najma sugar mills, which were scheduled to start crushing on Nov 1 had started their boilers more than a week ago. But after a reportedly secret decision by mill owners to start crushing season after Nov 15, four mills except Tharparkar had shut down the boilers, sources close to the matter said.

The sugar mill owners on Tuesday met with Sindh Cane Commissioner and told him that they would start crushing after Nov 15 arguing that majority of their workers who belonged to Swat valley could not reach the mills due to ongoing military operation there.

The sugar mills owners had assured the Sindh government and representatives of sugarcane growers in a meeting that they would start crushing on Nov 1.

The closure of boilers has extinguished any hope that the mills would start crushing by Nov 1. The delay has created resentment among the growers as their crop has matured and is ready to be harvested. The longer it stood in the field the more it would lose weight, the growers said.

Growers Mohammad Moosa Maher, Haji Abdul Ghafoor Maher, Imtiaz Panhwar condemned delay in the start of crushing season and demanded that the Sindh chief minister should ensure implementation of crushing on Nov 1.