HYDERABAD, Dec 4: The Sindh Abadgar Board has said the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association has committed a national crime by suspending the crushing of sugarcane and termed the silence of the government on the issue a tragedy.

The SAB's working committee at its meeting held here on Saturday alleged that since 1998, the Sindh chapter of the PSMA had been violating each and every notification of the government and had always started sugarcane crushing according to its own will.

It criticized the mills for not paying growers their dues on time and deceiving them in respect of weight of their sugarcane produce.

The meeting accused the association of blackmailing the government and forcing sugarcane growers to switch over to cultivation of other crops.

It claimed that since 2000, there had been an acute shortage of water and prices of agricultural inputs - diesel, fertilizers, pesticides, labour charges and taxes - had increased by 280 per cent. Due to these factors and the indifferent attitude of the government, it was difficult for the growers to get a sugarcane produce of 1,800 million tons to feed the mills. The production of sugarcane in the province had reduced to 800 million tons, the meeting added.

The meeting was of the opinion that except for seven mills - Faran, Mehran, Matiari, Sanghar, Sakrand, Habib and Al-Noor sugar mills -, the remaining 25 mills would face shortage of sugarcane till the end of the season.

The SAB appealed to Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim to direct the mills to resume the crushing immediately to save the sugarcane crop from destruction. It pointed out that delay in this regard would also lead to wheat crisis.

It called upon the government to conduct a survey and chalk out a plan for the next season in advance.

It demanded that last year's dues and the drainage cess should be paid to the growers by Dec 15.