Sugarcane prices: SHC wants details of action against millers

Mill owners refuse to pay the officially fixed price of sugarcane to growers.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has summoned the provincial cane commissioner on March 3 along with the complete record of action initiated against sugar mills owners, refusing to pay the officially fixed price of sugarcane to the growers.

A division bench, headed by Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, passed this direction while hearing a petition for action against 25 sugar mill owners for not purchasing sugarcane from the growers at the officially fixed price of Rs182 per 40 kilogrammes.

The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture had gone to court through its president, Dr Syed Nadeem Qamar, who said that the SHC had, on May 28, 2014, ordered the formation of a committee to fix a fair and reasonable ex-factory price for the procurement of sugarcane. His lawyer, Syed Mureed Ali Shah, recalled that following several rounds of discussion with all stakeholders, the committee had set the minimum support price for the crushing season, 2014-15, at Rs182 per 40kg.

On November 7, 2014, the agriculture secretary had issued an official notification approving the proposed minimum price and announcing that the crushing season will commence on November 14. Shah alleged, however, that a majority of the sugar mill owners were not paying the notified sugarcane price which was determined by the government. Of the 31 sugar mills in the province, only six have honoured the notified rates, while the remaining 25 were still paying around Rs150 to Rs155 per 40kg, he added. "Of these 25 sugar mills, 19 are owned by influential politicians," Shah pointed out.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 26^th, 2015.