MIRPURKHAS: Several hundreds cane growers took to the streets of Mirpurkhas on Tuesday in protest against closure of sugar mills in different parts of the province following rejection of their petition by the Sindh High Court regarding official price of produce to growers.

The issue of cane prices turned into a controversy when the Sindh government fixed Rs182 per 40 kilograms as the minimum rate to be offered to growers and the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) challenged its authority to fix a price. Many members of the association retained the old price of Rs155 per 40 kgs in violation of the relevant notification.

The association moved court, which upheld the notification but the controversy deepened on Wednesday when PSMA announced that it intended to file an appeal in the apex court against the SHC ruling.

In the meantime, a large number of sugar mills stopped cane crushing and sugar cane procurement leaving cane growers, who can neither accept a low price nor any further delay in the disposal of their produce, in the lurch.

Several organisations of representing growers have planned protest demonstrations and rally in different parts of Sindh against what they believe `defiant and stubborn attitude` of millers.Sarfaraz Junejo, Javed Junejo, Haji Mohammed Umer Bughio, A.D. Lakho, Imamdin Maher, Masood Wassan and many other cane growers inMirpurkhas district led a big demonstration at the local gymkhana and marched upto the press club to condemn millers` defiance of the official notification and resorting to closing their mills.

They raised slogans against the provincial government and owners of sugar mills, and demanded concrete measures to ensure fully fledged operation of all sugar mills and procurement of sugar cane at the official price as per the high court ruling.

They vowed to launch a vigorous movement across Sindh if government failed to establish its writ and millers did not give up their defiant attitude.

They said PSMA must not be allowed to make a mockery of government`s authority and high court`s ruling.

They accused the association of blackmailing growers.

They demanded action against millers as they were threatening growers with a collective loss of around Rs6 billion by flouting the court ruling.

The growers announced that the main Mirpurkhas-Hyderabad road would be closed at 9am on Jan 12 by holding a sit-in at Jamrao bridge. The meeting noted that top PPP leadership was supporting millers in the dispute over cane price. They said they would attend a meeting on Jan 8 at the Hyderabad residence of former TandoAllahyar district nazim and grower Dr Rahila Magsi to finalise a movement against the PSMA Sindh chapter.

Earlier, former chief minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim spoke to the protesting growers by phone when they assembled at the gymkhana to review the situation arising out of the closure of sugar mills. He said the official cane price should be fixed at Rs600 per 40 kilogram.

HYDERABAD: Most sugar mills in Sindh have stopped cane crushing in line with the Jan 2 announcement of PSMA Sindh zone.

It is learnt that the association has filed a constitutional petition in the apex court challenging dismissal of its petition by the Sindh High Court.

Dr Zulfiqar Yusfani of the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) and Nabi Sathio of the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA) said that millers had stopped buying sugarcane three days back and closed their mills on Wednesday.

Many leaders and activists of political parties and farmers` organisations are to assemble at the residence of Dr Rahila Magsi on Jan 8 to decide a future strategy.However, Ghotlci SCA office-bearer Zulfiqar Ali Shah said that all four sugar mills in his district were not only continuing with the cane crushing but also paying the official rate to cane growers.Sindh Cane Commissioner Agha Zaheeruddin confirmed that millers were not purchasing sugarcane from growers