GUJRAT: The Kissan Board of Pakistan (KBP) has welcomed the inquiry commission’s report on sugar crisis and demanded immediate implementation on its recommendations.

The farmers demand stern legal action against the “sugar mafia” that was responsible for plundering billions of rupees from the national exchequer as well as the people besides exploiting poor farmers for many decades, said Chaudhry Nisar Ahmed, the central president of KBP, in his response to the sugar scandal report.

Talking to Dawn here on Saturday, he said this was the first time that the sugar mafia was exposed through a detailed inquiry over which the farmers were happy. He lamented that mills owners first purchased cane from growers at very cheap rates and then made them wait for months for payments, which was unjustifiable and should be taken into account while taking action against those held responsible in the inquiry report. He congratulated the government on behalf of the farmers for making the inquiry report public.

Mr Ahmed said the sugar mafia had ruined the main textile sector that was once the backbone of the economy by setting up sugar mills on the cotton belt. He called upon the government to facilitate cotton growers to once again lift the textile sector that could also earn valuable foreign exchange through exports.

He lamented that the sugar mafia had always been so strong that it was looting farmers, masses and the government through planned increase in sugar prices by creating artificial shortage in the market, evading taxes and then getting subsidy that caused an irreparable loss to the national exchequer.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2020