HYDERABAD, March 3: The Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) has termed the government-fixed procurement price of wheat unrealistic and demanded that it be raised from Rs510 per 40kg (40 kilogramme) to Rs1,000 per 40kg.

The board, which recently met here to discuss the official wheat price, urged the future government to emulate India in support price and fix it at Rs1,000 per 40kg to discourage smuggling and hoarding.

The meeting said that the growers had suffered so much from unrealistic policies. Despite bumper wheat crop last year the previous government had fixed the support price at Rs425 per 40kg, Rs125 less than the prevailing international price of Rs550 per 40kg, it said.

The unrealistic policies benefited the smugglers and hoarders who amassed billions of rupees but forced people to purchase wheat flour at the rate of Rs25 to Rs35 per kg, the meeting said.

The meeting suggested that the government should give consumers a subsidy of Rs400 per 40kg if it fixed the procurement price at Rs1,000 per 40kg.

The meeting criticised acute shortage of water in the province and expressed surprise over non-implementation of water accord signed between the four provinces.The Irsa had been working for the last 15 years but it had utterly failed to implement the accord throughout the years and the Punjab had not bothered to follow it even for a single day, the meeting claimed.

The growers who participated in the meeting in a large number said that the NWFP and Balochistan provinces had been ironically exempted from sharing water shortages, which had all but converted Sindh into a wasteland.

They urged the future government to ensure that the water accord was implemented in letter and spirit and water was distributed between the provinces in a judicious manner.

They demanded that Irsa should be made an autonomous body to enable it to perform its legal and constitutional duties honestly and impartially. The meeting criticised the decisions taken by caretaker Sindh government on Bilori Minor and supply of additional water from Kotri Barrage.

The meeting urged the authorities to remove encroachments from waterways and regulators and revamp inspection and non-inspection paths on the canals. The growers should be taken into confidence over repairs of waterways or shortage of water to ensure efficacy of rotation programme, the growers said.

The meeting drew attention of future government as well as Pakistan Sugae Mills Association to Rs34.5 billion losses sustained by growers due to sugar mill owners’ obstinacy and urged the future government to enforce its writ with regards to payment of official price of sugarcane to growers.

The meeting demanded that from Nov 16, 2007 to Jan 21, 2008 the growers should be paid Rs67 per 40kg in accordance with the earlier notification and afterwards Rs63 per 40kg in accordance with the amended rate.

The board appealed to the PSMA to stop committing excesses against growers and clear their dues according to notified rates within the prescribed period.

The meeting pointed out that unbearable raise in the prices of inputs - diesel, petrol, seeds, pesticides, urea, DAP etc, had dealt a serious blow to agriculture sector.

The meeting observed that the country had been made import-oriented by imported prime ministers who had only safeguarded interests of their foreign masters.

The meeting demanded that the government should formulate the country’s agriculture policy on the pattern of India and urged the authorities to exempt growers from the payment of agricultural loans.

The board president Abdul Majeed Nizamani presided over the meeting, which was attended by a large number of growers from across the province.