Daily Times

HYDERABAD: It has been nearly a month that only 22 sugar mills have started their crushing season, while rest of the 16 have failed to abide by the Sindh Government’s order to start crushing from Nov15. This situation has sent a wave of concern among the growers, who have been urging the government and the mill owners since last two months urging government and mill owners to start crushing sugarcanes and save them from the huge financial loss incurred by the delay. They fear that their sugarcane crop will start drying out in case of delay in harvesting. Sindh government, after an agreement in joint meeting of growers and mill owners, had issued a notification asking mills to start crushing from 15 November. Mill owners were to pay sugarcane price to the growers at Rs182 per 40kg. But now, after passage of 26 days of that agreement, 16, out of 38 sugar mills of the province, have still have not ignited their boilers. Growers fear that these mill owners had no intention to start their mills. They have expressed their concern in a meeting of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, jointly held Sunday through video link in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Ghotki and Sanghar. In the meeting, which was chaired by Syed Nadeem Qamar, growers have appealed to the Sindh Chief Minister, Murad Ali Shah to take action against those sugar mills that have failed to follow Sindh Sugar Act and the mill owners’ association, PASMA, which had threatened to close down all sugar mills in Sindh.