SANGHAR, Sept 17: Traders dealing in cotton are fleecing farmers as factories have not yet started ginning. The traders are paying less than the price prevailing in the market telling growers it is because their produce is of low quality.

They get 40kg and pay for 36kg, a grower said.

The closing price on Wednesday was more than Rs1,300 per 40kg but on Saturday it fell to Rs1,050 per 40kg.

PROTEST: Villagers blocked the Khipro-Sanghar road on Sunday in protest against a former member of the National Assembly for what they said forcibly draining out rainwater from his fields into their village, Madad Ali Rind.

Allah Bachayo Rind, Abdul Khaliq Rind and Ali Dino Rind said that former MNA Kishanchand Parwani’s men dug into protective embankment around the village and let water from fields flood their houses.

They alleged that they had plugged the broken embankment several times but Parwani’s men keep digging into it to save their master’s crops.

They appealed to the administration to save their village from getting flooded.

PPP: The district president of the Pakistan People’s Party, Mr Sarfaraz Rajar, has said that the government has failed in providing relief to rain-affected people.

Speaking at a press conference in Khipro on Saturday, he said that whatever relief goods the government had provided were distributed among a select group of people.

He said that a large number of people suffering from gastroenteritis, malaria and skin diseases were still awaiting medical treatment.

He said that thousands of cattle had died but departments concerned had nothing to compensate affected people.