LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif has said that cases will be registered against the sugar mill owners and they will be arrested if any complaint is received about any deduction in the weight of sugarcane.
He was presiding over a meeting from Medina through a video link to consider the recommendations and proposals of the special committee set up to solve the problems of sugarcane farmers. It also reviewed the steps taken to provide relief to the sugarcane farmers.
Addressing the meeting, the CM said that sustained action should be continued against the elements that have set up illegal weighbridges and such persons should also be brought to justice. Provincial ministers concerned as well as the administrative secretaries should remain available in the field and they should continuously conduct field visits to ensure a timely solution of problems of sugarcane farmers, and the results of these visits should be communicated to me as well, he added.
The chief minister categorically directed that indiscriminate action should be initiated against the sugar mills involved in the practice of underweight procurement of sugarcane, and added that if his own mill is found doing the same, then he should also be prosecuted without any discrimination.
“All my sympathies are with the farmers and protection of their interests is my duty which I am committed to fulfilling,” he added.
Provincial Ministers Sheikh Allauddin, Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, Dr Farrukh Javed, Naeem Akhtar Bhabha, chief secretary, farmers’ representatives namely Sarfraz Khan, Khalid Khokhar and Anayat Azhar, Sugar Mills Association (SMA) President Javed Kiyani and others attended the meeting in Model Town through the video link.