Crushing delay: Sugar mills, growers point fingers at each other

Only three out of 32 mills start crushing despite lapse of deadline.

HYDERABAD: As sugar mills in Sindh flout the government’s order to start cane crushing, agriculturists and even the Cane Commissioner Sindh underscore the urgency to toughen up laws regulating the mills. So far only three of the total 32 mills in the province have started crushing despite the lapse of officially notified date of November 1.

Under the Sugar Factories Control Act of Sindh, the commissioner can only pray in a court of law seeking punishment, in the form of fine or imprisonment, against a mill.

The growers’ complaints, which underpin a lawsuit, encompass delayed start and early end of the crushing season, withholding payment of cane to the growers and banning certain cane varieties without giving adequate time to the farmers among others.

“The commissioner should be empowered to impose the penalty,” suggests Tariq Ahmed Memon, Cane Commissioner Sindh. He told The Express Tribune that 17 mills promised to start by tomorrow (Saturday) in addition to the three that have already started crushing. Some of them have sent written assurance, he added.

“I will go to the court on Monday against all the mills not complying with the orders” Memon added.

Memon was not certain whether the court will be able to give any timely remedy due to the pendency of cases. “Last year we went to the court against three mills with the same complaints. The case is still pending,” Memon pointed out.

The sugar mills, on their part, say that growers have failed to meet supply. “The four sugar mills which have started the crushing are getting hardly 30 to 40 per cent of their around 100,000 maund per day demand,” says Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) Sindh Vice-Chairman Deoomal A Essarani.

He argued that farmers are not even bringing enough cane to meet the demand of small sugar mills. “There will be no use opening a large mill, which utilises up to 200,000 maunds per day in the current situation,” Memon said.

“The mills should be liable to pay a fine of at least Rs2 million for breaking the law with regard to crushing and payment,” recommends Sindh Abadgar Board president Abdul Majeed Nizamani.

According to Sindh Chamber of Agriculture president Dr Nadeem Qamar, sugar mills are withholding in excess of Rs1 billion in payables to the growers in the province. However, the chamber is preparing a draft law to lobby for an amendment in the Act by the Sindh Assembly.

“In addition to the tactics of delayed crushing, offering cheap procurement rates and withholding payments, the mills also crush the growers by suddenly refusing to accept the variety they produce,” says Qamar calling for an end to this practice.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2011.