SUKKUR, Nov 2: Hundreds of cotton growers, under the aegis of Abadgar Action Committee, held a protest demonstration in Ghotki on Saturday against the marketing of substandard pesticides.

The protesters, led by Sindh Hari Committee leader Comrade Mandhal Shar and others, gathered outside the Ghotki Press Club and raised slogans against the officials of agricultural department for failing to check the sale of substandard pesticides.

Speaking on the occasion, Comrade Shar, Ayaz Naich and others held the officials of the agriculture department responsible for the damage to the cotton crop, saying that they allowed the marketing of the substandard and spurious pesticides through dealers.

They demanded an immediate arrest of the officials due to whose negligence 80 to 90 per cent cotton crop had been destroyed.

They termed the agriculture check post, Ubauro, as useless and warned that if culprits were not arrested within 15 days, they would stage a sit-in outside the DCO office.

They demanded that taxes should be waived to compensate the affected growers.