KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, said on Sunday that the sugarcane price in Sindh is low because sugarcane from Punjab is being sold in the province at Rs100 per 40kg.
He said this while talking to the media during his visit to the newly launched schemes in Karachi. The chief minister was accompanied by Sindh Minister Jam Khan Shoro and other officials.
“We have given Rs9.30 additional subsidy on export of sugar to encourage sugar millers to start crushing, who were otherwise reluctant to do so because of the large quantities of sugar already lying in their warehouses,” he said and added “with our efforts, millers have started crushing and now we are also taking measures to ensure the growers a better price for their sugarcane,” he said.
The chief minister accused the federal government of creating this crisis. “Had they not imposed a ban on the export of sugar, stocks would not have piled up with the millers,” he commented.
Replying to another question, Shah said that he was trying to complete all the development schemes being carried out in the city.
Meanwhile, according to reports over one thousand farmers continued a mammoth sit-in on National Highway in Gabmat on Sunday, in protest against the low price of sugarcane being offered by the sugar mills in Sindh and delay in payments of last year’s sugarcane dues.
The sit-in caused a 12-kilometer-long traffic jam on both sides of the National Highway as a result, causing a huge inconvenience to the commuters.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz delegations visited the sit-in venue and expressed solidarity with the farmers and their leaders in their struggle against the millers of Sindh. Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz delegation was led by Dr Niaz Kalani.
Furthermore, Gambat municipal committee chairman and Gambat Primary Teachers Association President Ali Gul Khuhro also visited the sit-in and met the protest leaders.
