GAMBAT: Over one thousand farmers continued a mammoth sit-in on National Highway in Gambat on second consecutive day on Sunday in protest against the low price of sugarcane being given by the sugar mills in Sindh and delay in payments of last year’s sugarcane dues.
The sit-in caused 12-kilometer-long traffic jam on both sides of the National Highway as a result, thousands of vehicles, including coaches, buses, wagons, trucks, trailer-trucks and cars stuck up.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz delegations visited the sit-in venue and expressed solidarity with the farmers and their leaders in their struggle against the millers of Sindh. Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz delegation was led by Dr Niaz Kalani. Furthermore, Municipal Committee Gambat Chairman, and Primary Teachers Association Taluka Gambat President Ali Gul Khuhro also visited the sit-in and met leaders of the protest drive.
The farmers from many villages of district Khairpur joined the sit-in and held massive demonstration. The protesters, led by Sindh Abadgar Board leader Lal Bux Siyal, Sindh Agriculture Research Council leader Mithal Khuhro, and Jamal Mehmood Khuhro, demanded sugarcane rate at Rs182 per 40 kg and payment of last year’s dues outstanding against the sugar mills in Sindh. They raised slogans against the Sindh government and urged it to implement Sindh High Court’s verdict to pay reasonable rates of sugarcane.
The leaders warned defiant sugar mills of widening the protest across Sindh. They lashed out at the Sindh government for not taking any action against the sugar millers.
They said that mills were paying low cane rates and were reluctant to make payments on time. The farmers community leaders asked SHC to take action against the mills for not paying due cane rate to the sugarcane growers.