Sugarcane growers protest late payment

MUZAFFARGARH:

More than 500 sugarcane growers protested against delay in payment, unfair deductions from payment and purchase through middlemen on Monday.

They blocked the GT Road for hours. The protesting growers from Kot Addu shouted slogans against sugar mill owners and district administration. They alleged that mill authorities did not pay them on time and deducted Rs600 per tractor-trolley. They said the middlemen deducted Rs15 per maund of sugarcane. This, they said, was making them starve as they were not making any profit. Hundreds of tractor-trolleys loaded with sugarcane are parked outside the three factories in the district.

The growers demanded that sugar mill owners deal with them directly and eliminate the role of middlemen. They also asked them to make prompt payments. The protesters dispersed after some district administration officials arrived at the scene and told them that the matter would be looked into.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2012.