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BADIN, Oct 20: None of the seven sugar mills in the district started sugarcane crushing on Thursday, the deadline given by the Sindh government, which has intensified disappointment among sugarcane growers.
When this correspondent contacted the managements of the Pangrio, Ansari, Matli, Bawani, Army, Mirza and Deewan sugar mills on telephone, no responsible official was available for comment.
Telephone operators at the mills said that the general managers were not available. Most of them were said to have gone to Karachi to attend meetings.
Earlier, the provincial government directed the mills to start crushing on October 15 but it was delayed due to different reasons. Chief Minister of Sindh Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim then extended the deadline to October 20.
Meanwhile, the sugarcane growers have warned of launching a protest movement if the government fails to get the crushing immediately started.
NAWABSHAH: All the three sugar mills of the district failed to start the crushing on Thursday as directed by the Sindh government.
Boilers of the Habib, Al-Noor and Sakrand sugar mills were fired up on Wednesday but it is not certain when they will start the crushing.
The sugarcane growers have expressed concern over delay in the start of the crushing.
Syed Ali Mohammad Shah, district information secretary, Sindh Abadgar Board, called upon the Sindh government to bind down the mills to start the crushing as soon as possible.
KHAIRPUR: Administrations of the Khairpur and Ranipur sugar mills have fired up boilers but it was not confirmed that crushing would start soon. Despite repeated contacts on telephone, no responsible person could be contacted at the mills.
However, EDO of revenue Qazi Shahid Pervez said that administrations of both the mills had informed him that they had started the mills on experimental basis today. But he did not officially confirm whether the mills had started the crushing and said that he had directed the Mukhtiarkars to visit the mills and report.
On the other hand president of the Khairpur Abadgar Ittehad Syed Shakir Ali Shah said that purchase orders had not been issued by the mills to the growers hence it was an incorrect claim that sugar mills had been started.
HYDERABAD: Fourteen sugar mills have fired their boilers to formally launch the crushing season 2004-05 in Sindh, the office of the Sindh cane commissioner said on Wednesday.
The mills which have fired the boilers include Najma, Sindh Abadgar, Ansari, Khairpur, Al-Noor, Matiari, Tando Mohammad Khan, Sanghar, Al-Abbas, Seri, Faran, Tharparkar, Tando Allahyar and Mirpurkhas.
The management of the Faran Sugar Mills said it had fired the boilers but the machines would take 10 days to warm up to be operational for the crushing.
Sindh cane commissioner Nazar Mohammed Baloch said the price of sugarcane so far remained unchanged despite the fact that the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association had objected that it was different in Punjab.
He defended the Rs43 rate per 40 kilogrammes on the ground that sugarcane produced in Sindh carry more sucrose than that of Punjab.
Mr Baloch pointed out that in 2002-03 the percentage of recovery of molasses in per 100 kilogram of cane was recorded at 5.27 kilogram against 4.72 kilogram in Punjab.
He said it was a strong reason for fixing the price of Rs43 per maund as compared to Punjab. Quoting a report of the PSMA, he said, cane growers in Sindh bear Rs21,191 as expenses per acre as the production cost of cane against Rs17,922 borne by growers of Punjab, showing a difference of Rs3,269.
Meanwhile, it was learnt that cases against four sugar mills that owed millions of rupees as dues of cane (development) cess fund to the government would be referred to the NAB in case they failed to pay dues.
In this connection a meeting has been convened by the secretary agriculture on Oct 22 in Karachi with owners of the Al-Asif Sugar mills Gharo, the Bawany (Talhar), the Tharparkar (Kot Ghulam Mohammad) and the Seri Sugar Mills because they owed million of rupees under the head of cess.
Their cases have already been sent to the revenue department for attachment of property and proceedings have commenced.
However, the government took another initiative by issuing them a final notice on Aug 12 under the directive of the Sindh finance minister, requiring the mills to clear the dues.
Through the letter they were offered that they could clear the dues in two instalments.
Five sugar mills have yet to clear dues of growers which were estimated at Rs164,560,130 for year 2002-03.
They included the Al-Noor (Rs46,702,275), the Khairpur (Rs38,465,286) the Ranipur (Rs29,006,027), the Sakrand (Rs44,866,286) and the Sanghar (Rs5,520,255).
