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NAWABSHAH, Jan 7: The general manager of the Habib Sugar Mill, Mohammad Yousuf, on Tuesday warned of an impending closure of the sugar mills in the face of the continuing deadlock between the growers and the sugar mill owners.
He said that if the situation remained unchanged, the mills would be forced to close down as the sugarcane crushing had been suspended since Jan 2.
He also informed this correspondent that the 10 sugar mills of Sindh, including the Diwan Sugar Mill, the Matiari Sugar Mill and the Sakrand Sugar Mill, had challenged the Sindh government’s decision, regarding payment of Rs43 per 40kg of sugarcane to the growers, in the Sindh High Court.
The first hearing, he said, would be held on Wednesday.
He claimed that no quality premium was being paid to the growers in Punjab and the mills in Sindh were also not in a position to pay Rs43 per 40kg of sugarcane.
He further said that the recovery position of upper and lower Sindh was totally different and the decision to pay Rs36 per 40kg had been made after observing prevailing sugar prices.
Meanwhile, the local Growers Action Committee held a meeting here on Tuesday to devise a strategy regarding the protest drive against the sugar mills, which is to be launched on Jan 10.
The meeting, attended by the president of the Sindh Abadgar Board, Nawabshah, Syed Zain Shah, and others, demanded of Chief Minister, Sindh, Ali Mohammad Mahar, to bind the mill owners down to implement the decisions, made at the Karachi meeting of Jan 4.
A number of committees were constituted to supervise preparations for the sit-in, which is scheduled to be staged on Jan 10 on the National Highway in Qazi Ahmed.
The meeting warned the managements of the three sugar mills of the district to pay the government rate to the growers, warning otherwise strict decisions would be taken in another meeting, which is to be held on Jan 13.
NAUSHAHRO FEROZE, Small growers of the district are selling sugarcane crop to the big growers at rates, ranging between Rs28 and Rs30 per 40kg, instead of the government rate of Rs43 per 40kg.
The small growers are selling sugarcane at such a low rate because the sugar mills are not buying sugarcane from them and they are under enormous pressure to pay for the fertilizer and seeds, purchased by them on short-term credit.
The big growers have, meanwhile, set up procurement points to purchase the produce from small growers in the district along the National Highway.
The growers said that the mill owners would cover their losses, incurred because of closure of the mills, by selling their sugar stocks at a higher rate.
They said that the growers, specially the small growers, would suffer the most as they could not avail such an opportunity.
KILLED: A doctor, Ghulam Haider Nagraj, was killed allegedly by three brothers, Bakhsh Nagori, Karim Bux Nagori and Haq Nawaz Nagori, near the Mehrabpur police station.
The Mehrabpur police have arrested the three accused and have also recovered two pistols and a revolver from their possession.
