Sugarcane farmers protest non-payment of dues in Jhang

JHANG: Sugarcane growers’ protest against non-payment of dues entered the seventh day on Thursday.

Scores of sugarcane farmers have been protesting outside a sugar mill here against its owner over non-payment of their dues. The protesting farmers say the sugar mill has to pay their outstanding dues which amount to millions of rupees.

It is pertinent to recall here that Federal Minster for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry had earlier this week said sugarcane growers had been ensured timely payment of their dues this time on the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The minister in a tweet said sugar cane farmers in Sindh and Punjab were paid full price of their yield in a timely manner after a long time, which directly benefited them as they now have resources for next crop.

Separately, the Punjab government had said it paid a sum of Rs113 billion to the sugarcane growers in the province while remaining dues will also be paid soon.

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar in a tweet said: “About 99.7 percent dues of previous years have been paid to farmers. Sugarcane crop worth Rs133 billion has been procured in the current season in Punjab.”

“Sugar mills mafia ruled Punjab for many decades and sugarcane farmers were not paid their payments for many years.”