- Shehbaz says mill owners buying sugarcane at lesser rates to be arrested
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has said that he will go to every extent to protect interests of the farmers so he has given enough time to the sugar mill owners and will not give them more time now.
Presiding over a meeting through video link here, he expressed his strong indignation over the complaints of deduction in weight and procurement of sugarcane from farmers at lesser rates and issued final warning of 48 hours to the sugar mill owners to mend their ways.
The meeting was held to review matters pertaining to payments to the sugarcane farmers. Chief Minister Shehbaz said that owners of sugar mills buying sugarcane at lesser rates would be arrested and made it clear that if any of his blood relatives have ever been found involved in this matter, then he would also be not let off.
He directed the officials that general managers of the mills found purchasing sugarcane at lesser rates would also be arrested and no leniency would be shown in this regard. He said that any violation of the decided formula with regard to deduction in weight would not be tolerated and implementation of this formula would be ensured in letter and spirit.
He said that commissioners, DCs, RPOs and DPOs would have to play their effective role to protect rights of the sugarcane farmers and made it clear that strict action would be taken against the district officials if any complaint would be lodged. “I will not allow anybody to play havoc with the rights of the farmers,” he said.
He directed the ministers of agriculture, industry and food departments to stay in the field along with their secretaries till further orders. He said that they should ensure implementation of the government orders. Ministers Rana Sanaullah, Bilal Yasin, Sheikh Allauddin, Naeem Akhtar Bhabha, the chief secretary, secretaries, representatives of the Sugar Mills Association and Kissan Ittehad attended the meeting from the Civil Secretariat while the secretaries of the agriculture and industry participated from Islamabad and Multan, respectively.
