Lack of bulldozers cripples agri output

KARACHI
The poverty stricken growers are undergoing serious difficulties to level their agricultural lands due to an acute shortage of earth leveling bulldozers, as only 80 bulldozers are functional, while 280 are lying out of order, it is reliably learnt.
The bulldozers are outdated and are well above their working life span, however, the Agriculture Department of Sindh has disturbingly repaired only 80 bulldozers, sources told Pakistan Today.
The provincial government has not purchased any bulldozer since the past decade, they said, adding that there was a pressing need for purchase of new bulldozers.
Sources were critical of the feckless attitude shown by the provincial authorities which they believed was a reason for serious concern among growers and was badly hurting the economy.
A senior official in the Agriculture Department, requesting anonymity, also confirmed that there were only 80 heavy bulldozers functional while the remaining machinery was lying out of order, as there was no repair work since the last many years.
The official also asserted that the Sindh government had not purchased new bulldozers since the last couple of years. Sindh Abadgar Board President Abdul Majeed Nizamani stated that Punjab had more than 1,000 earth leveling bulldozers which were easily accessible to the local growers. Recently, the government of Punjab had refreshingly purchased new bulldozers in excess of 400, which would boost up the agriculture sector, he said.
However, in Sindh, the bulldozers remain in custody of influential landlords, while growers are burdened with heavy rental charges of bulldozers, a leader among the growers stated.
He informed Pakistan Today that the grower had to pay close to Rs 1500 as daily rent for bulldozer usage, excluding fuel and transportation charges. He alleged the district officials and influential landlords to have deprived the growers from bulldozer usage.
He demanded both provincial and federal governments to ensure provision of heavy agriculture machinery to local growers at cheaper rates so that the crop yield could be enhanced.