HYDERABAD, Dec 1: The central organising committee of the Sindh Abadgar Tehrik on Friday severely criticised the Zarai Taraqqiati Bank for issuing of notices of auction to the growers who owned less than 16 acres over non-payment of loans.

The committee which met under its Tehrik chairman Ghulam Mustafa Khan Laghari protested against reduction in the price of sugarcane by mill owners in the lower Sindh area from Rs67 per 40 kg to Rs59 per 40 kg.

The meeting demanded that the minimum price of sugarcane should be fixed at Rs100 per 40 kg arguing that in India the price of sugar was less than the prevailing price in Pakistan but the price of sugarcane was fixed at Rs110 per 40 kg.

The sugar mill owners’ violation of government orders to start crushing season on Oct 1 and fixation of sugarcane rates unilaterally was tantamount to murdering murder of the growers, the meeting said.

Had the mills started crushing season the scheduled date, the growers would have been able to cultivate wheat or other crops but due to delay they had could not sow any other crop and suffered losses running into tens of millions of rupees, the meeting observed.

The meeting pointed out that the federal government had decided to increase price of oil by 15 per cent, which would automatically increase the prices of all the other goods much to the ruin of growers and peasants.

The meeting demanded that the price of sugarcane should be increased, action should be taken against sugar mill owners for closing the mills, water should be released into canals under the command of Kotri Barrage, the auction of lands of poor growers should be stopped and the government should ensure that seeds, fertilisers and pesticides were available to growers at reasonable rates.Price cut to Rs60 per 40kg

T.M. KHAN: Sugarcane growers in Tando Muhammad Khan district have halted harvesting their crop following the PSMA decision to reduce cane price to Rs60 from Rs67 per 40kg.