HYDERABAD, Dec 9: Different organisations of growers in Sindh will hold a joint meeting on Monday to work out a plan for staging a series of sit-ins on the Super or National Highway to protest against sugarcane procurement policy of the mills.

An office-bearer of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, Mir Murad Ali Talpur, told a meeting of the chamber here on Sunday that there was a proposal to block one of the highways for three days to pressurise the government to come to the rescue of the farmers who were being blackmailed by mills owners.

He said that the growers had been protesting against excesses of the sugar mill owners but the government appeared helpless. He said that the growers had been left with no other option but to resort to protest and added that the responsibility for the highway blockade would lay on the government and the mill owners.

He called upon the federal government to immediately intervene to resolve the problem.

The meeting pointed out that a row over sugarcane price had led to delay in harvest of sugarcane crop and, as a result, not only the farmers and labourers supposed to be hired for cane harvesting, were suffering but wheat sowing was also being affected.

The meeting regretted that the government was totally oblivious of the plight of the poor farmers and the labourers who would not be able to celebrate Eidul Azha in a befitting manner.

It urged the district nazims in whose jurisdiction the sugar mills were located, to perform their due role in resolving the crisis.

Like every year, this year too sugarcane growers and sugar mill managements have been engaged in a tug of war over sugarcane price, with the government doing little to resolve the issue.

The government has fixed the rate of Rs67 for 40kg of sugarcane but the mils are offering the rate of Rs43 per 40kg sugarcane while the growers are demanding at least Rs60.