PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Monday directed the sugar millers of the province to purchase the commodity at the rate of Rs.180 per 40 kilogram.
The ruling was given by Speaker, Asad Qaiser while disposing of the call attention notice of the Mahmood Jan, a PTI legislator from suburban locality of Peshawar.
Taking the floor on a call attention notice, the PTI legislator said that during the current session, he had presented a call attention notice demanding the payment of Rs.180 per 40 kilogram to sugarcane growers as the sugar millers were paying Rs.165 for the same weight of sugarcane crop.
He recalled that the house have constituted a committee headed by the Provincial Minister for Food and the committee has taken unanimous decision of the payment of the price of Rs.180 to the growers for 40 kilogram sugarcane. However, the sugar millers are not implementing the decision.
The legislator said that those growers, who had supplied sugarcane to mills were paid Rs.165 per 40 kilogram, which is sheer injustice.
Therefore, he urged the provincial government to initiate action against sugar mills to make them bound to pay the price of Rs.180 per 40 kilogram of the crop.
Responding to the call attention notice, the Provincial Minister for Food, Qalandar Khan Lodhi said that the price of Rs.180 per 40 kilogram sugarcane is fixed countrywide while the provincial governments of Punjab and Sindh are also paying subsidies to their sugar millers.
However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is not paying any subsidies to sugar millers.
The provincial minister said that so far none of the grower had lodged formal complaint with the government in this regard and the business is going on with mutual understanding between the sugar millers and growers of the province.
He said that on receiving direct complaints, then Director Food, Deputy Commissioners took action on it.
To the contentions of the provincial minister, the MPA said that along with the member of the house, he is also a big sugarcane producing farmer.
He said that growers preferring to put their crop on fire than selling it to sugar millers.
He said that due to delay in the start of crushing, the growers had also lost the season of wheat sowing.
To dispose the matter, Speaker Asad Qaiser directed that till the presentation of the report of the Standing Committee of the house, the growers should be paid the rate of Rs.180 per 40 kilogram.
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