HYDERABAD: The Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) has urged the Sindh chief minister to announce the official sugar cane support price and commencement date for the cane crushing season.

In his letter addressed to Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, SAB President Syed Mahmood Nawaz Shah has drawn his attention to the twin issues, saying that the Sugar Factories Control Act, 1950 provided a framework for the smooth running of the sugar industry.

The letter, shared with the media on Monday, said that even before the 18th Constitutional Amendment, under which the agriculture sector was devolved to provinces, the latter were responsible for regulating the industry through the Act.

A provincial government, through the prescribed process, is supposed to notify the starting date of the crushing season and fix the sugar cane support price for current season. However, from last year the Sindh government had stopped issuing such a notification, which is for the first time in many decades, the letter regrets.

Mr Shah urged the chief minister to note that by not notifying the start of cane crushing season or the support price, his government was practically leaving growers at the mercy of sugar mills. `This is contrary to the spirit of the law, and has tilted the balance in favour of sugar mills,` he remarked.

The SAB chief reminded the chief minister that in the past, sugar mills used to start cane crushing season in the month of October, but last year, they started the process in December because the government did not issue the relevant notifications.

Mr Shah said that growers of Sindh wanted the chief minister to do the needful in this regard.