GUJRAT, Feb 26: Sugarcane growers belonging to Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and other adjacent districts have complained about underweighing and overcharging by the management of the Phalia Sugar Mill, Karmanwala, Mandi Bahauddin.

They also allege that the mills deduct Rs5 to Rs10 per maund of sugar from the fixed rate of Rs40 per maund. A survey conducted by this correspondent revealed that most of the growers were critical of non-implementation of the Sugarcane Act and the role of middlemen, who had, they said, left the poor growers at the mercy of the mills' owners.

During the tenures of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto, sub-committees on food, agriculture and livestock were formed in the National Assembly, which suggested an amendment to the Sugarcane Act to protect the interests of the growers.

The committees suggested from time to time that the act should be re-drafted after consulting the provincial governments. However, the present government has yet to think on these lines so far.

The act, which the growers believe is full of flaws, states that the mill owners can be fined and imprisoned for delayed payment to the cane growers. But the irony is that the law has never been implemented.

Waiting for their turn at the gates of the mills, a number of growers said they had to wait even for a week in extreme weather conditions due to delayed crushing. According to the Sugarcane Control Act, the crushing season must begin on Oct 1.

However, the growers alleged that the mills started crushing in the beginning of November, though the cane commissioner had clearly warned of action against the violators.

They also complained about underweighing up to 25 per cent by the mills' high-ups and deductions in their dues. They said the mills' administration had set up 20 weighing centres in Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin where they had deployed men, who underweighed the cane up to 15 per cent and it was further shortmeasured up to 10 per cent at the mills weighing centre.

A farmer told this correspondent on the request of anonymity that those growers, who got the cane through S-95 type of seed, were given only Rs25 per maund on the pretext that the cane of this seed produced less sugar. He claimed the seed had been approved by the government.

The growers further alleged that the middlemen, who were being encouraged by the mills' administration, had been exploiting them. Some of them even complained about delays in payments and alleged that the mills administration owed them millions of rupees.

The government, said a farmer, had failed to realise that it was due to the efforts of the cane growers that the country had become self-sufficient in sugar production and was exporting between 500,00 to 600,000 tonnes of the product to other countries every year.

He said if the government did not change its attitude, the growers would prefer other crops after which the industry would collapse. He said the government was recovering billions of rupees from the sugar cane growers in the shape of different taxes, but utilization of the money from cess head was not transparent.

"The money from cess is to be exclusively used for the development of the crop by constructing farm to mills roads and providing other incentives to the growers," he said, regretting there was only lopsided development in Gujrat and Mandi Bahauddin for political reasons.

The farmer suggested that committees should be formed in the National Assembly to monitor the utilization of sugar cess in the two districts. A source claimed that the Phalia Sugar Mill owed million of rupees as sugar cess. Other growers demanded an inquiry against a mills general-manager and said the case should be referred to NAB.