MIRPURKHAS - On the call given by Sindh Abadgar Board and Chamber of Agriculture, thousands of sugarcane growers held a sit-in at a toll plaza on Hyderabad-Mirpurkhas Road and blocked it with the help of tractors trolleys and other vehicles to register their protest against sugar mills’ owners for not receiving their crop.

Members of Farmer Organisation Council (FOC) Sindh and Sindh Agriculture Research Council (SARC), led by chairmen Javed Ahmed Junejo and Ali Palh Advocate, resp ectively also joined in the sit in, which led to a massive traffic jam on both sides of the road, forcing the commuters to opt for alternate routes.  Raising slogans against the Sindh government and sugar mills’ owners, the growers demanded the higher authorities force the sugar mills’ owners to buy the sugarcane from them at the official rate of Rs182 per 40 kilogrammes.

The sit-in continued till 5pm in the evening.

Speaking on the occasion, FOC Sindh Chairman Javed Ahmed Junejo said that on behalf of FOC Sindh and SARC, another sit-in would be held outside the local press club on January 5, on the occasion of Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) public meeting in Gama Stadium in which PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari will speak.

He said that he and other leaders would not only attend the public gathering but would also try to meet Zardari to acquaint him with their problems.

He also said that if the district administration did not allow them to hold the sit-in on Jan 5, they would stage the sit-in at any available place in Mirpurkhas to record their protest. He called upon the growers to attend the sit-in on Jan 5 in large numbers to press the government for accepting their genuine demands.

Meanwhile hundreds of sugarcane growers of taluka Kot Ghulam Muhammad (KGM) blocked the main chowk of KGM on Thursday in protest as a result traffic between KGM and Mirpurkhas and KGM to Samaro was suspended.

Led by Imtiaz China, Mumtaz Rahimoon, Mano Comrade and Muzaffar Sansi, the protesters were carrying banners and placards in their hands. Their protest continued for three hours.