Small growers and peasants continue to suffer as they are not being supplied gunny bags for selling their wheat produce to the government procurement centers established here by the food department.
Sindh Chamber of Agriculture President Siraj Rashdi told reporters on Sunday that growers were forced to sell their crop at the rate of Rs 1,100 instead of Rs 1,300 fixed by the government due to which they suffered huge losses.
He said recently a resolution was passed by the Sindh Assembly on distribution of Bardana but it was not being complied with in its letter and spirit resulting in losses to the small growers and poor peasants. He alleged that bags were being given to the influential people which had increased corruption and the food inspector posted at Naundero was constantly absent from his duty. Food Inspector Manthar Noonari was posted here since last three years and he did not even respond to the calls made by the journalists, he said.
Rashdi said that Noonari was involved in selling Bardana to big landlords who could get Form-7 from the revenue department easily but poor farmers had to pay between Rs 2,000 to 3,000 to get the form that too after weeks without which bags were not supposed to be issued. He further alleged that securing Bardana had become a cumbersome job for the poverty-ridden tillers who were already suffering due to high costs of production like seed, fertilizers and so forth.
Meanwhile, a delegation of farmers also called on PML-Nawaz leader Mumtaz Ali Bhutto on Sunday at his native village Mirpur Bhutto and complained about non-supply to them of government gunny bags due to which they were forced to sale their wheat and other crops at lowest rates in the open market. Mumtaz Bhutto said that due to Sindh government’s enmity with him, he was also denied gunny bags and he was forced to sell the crops in the market on lower rates.