HYDERABAD, Nov 17: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture has deplored delay in beginning sugarcane crushing season by the sugar mill owners despite the Sindh government notification to begin the season on Nov 15.

The SAC, at its weekly meeting held here on Sunday, said the non-implementation of the notification would not only hamper the sowing of wheat crop and cause huge losses to the growers, but would also affect the recovery of water charges and other taxes.

The meeting urged the government to take notice of the matter and urge the sugar mill owners to implement its notification.

The senior vice president of the chamber, Mir Murad Ali Talpur, presided over the meeting.

Meanwhile, a group of small growers, under the banner of the Sindh Small Growers Association (SSGA), observed a token hunger strike outside the press club here to protest against the refusal of sugar mill owners to begin the crushing season from Nov 15.

The SSGA leaders, Deewan Arumal, Noor Ahmad Palejo, Abdul Aleem Memon and others told newsmen sugar mills had always defied government orders with impunity.

They said the delay would affect small growers, traders and agriculture workers.

They said sugar mills in Punjab and the NWFP had begun the crushing season although their sugarcane crop matured a month later than in Sindh due to different weather conditions.

The SSGA leaders warned if the crushing season did not begin in a week, the growers would stage demonstrations throughout the province.

The Sindh Abadgar Board, in a communication addressed to the Sindh governor on Nov 14, had also complained against the attitude of the owners of the sugar mills.

The secretary general of the board, Mehmood Nawaz Shah, had pointed out that under the relevant law the crushing season had to start on Oct 15 every year.

Meanwhile, sources told Dawn, the crushing season might take another one month to start.

The sugar mills in Sindh had always defied government orders to begin the crushing season on time and to make payment to growers in the stipulated period, but the government had never taken any action against the mill owners for violating the provisions of the law, the sources said.