NAUNDERO: Standing sugarcane crop on three acres was burnt in village Rahooja near here on Sunday as a live 11000 KV electricity line fell on it and caused fire.
The landlords Ayaz Ali and Aijaz Abro told reporters that they, several times, approached the Sepco Naundero and Larkana authorities to replace outdated high tension cables and informed them that it might cause any damage, but they kept them on false commitments and failed to remove outdated lines.
They said that since last 25 years, no repair work was carried out and all the cables were still in dangerous condition. Other villagers Mohammad Bux, and Mohammad Rakhyal said that previously, their costly buffaloes were killed in the same type of accident when live wires fell on their cattle.
The growers said that they were ready to cut the sugarcane crop but suddenly Naundero Sugar Mill was closed down on December 25 as they were not giving fixed price of the crop announced by the Sindh government. They said that they had suffered huge loss as their standing crop worth millions of rupees had been burnt due to negligence of Sepco Naundero authorities. They appealed to higher authorities to support them, announce compensation and take stern action against Sepco.