‘Illegal mutation’ of sugar mills land protested in Charsadda

CHARSADDA: Dozens of people staged a sit-in and blocked the Charsadda-Nowshera road for vehicular traffic to protest the ‘illegal’ mutation of sugar mills land and establishing a housing colony on its

property.

The protestors comprising the land owners and members of the minority community blocked the Charsadda-Nowshera road for vehicular traffic for several hours and demanded the government to stop shifting of machinery and construction of a housing colony on the property of sugar mills.

They were holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands and against the alleged grabbers of sugar mills land.

Former provincial minister accused a senator of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of occupying the land acquired for the Charsadda sugar mills.

He said that a PTI senator had occupied the land, which was acquired for the Charsadda sugar mills under Section 4 in 1960. He said that the sugar mills had been set up on the land, but it had been closed now, alleging that the PTI senator had annexed the land.

He alleged that the PTI senator frequently transferred hundreds kanals of land in his name. He said the land acquired for the sugar mills could only be used for industrial purposes. He alleged that the PTI leader wanted to develop a housing society on the land. He asked the people to avoid buying the land to avoid suffering losses.

The former minister said that the PTI senator transferred the land in his land in 2021 with the connivance of the Revenue department

officials.

Hashim said he would soon move the court of law and asked the relevant officials to look into the matter or else he would arrange protests against it.

He demanded action against the alleged land grabbers and functioning of the sugar mill.

It may be mentioned that earlier the workers in Charsadda had staged a protest demonstration against the closure of the mills.

The protesting workers had gathered at Farooq Azam Chowk and staged a protest. They said they have been left jobless due to closure of the sugar and paper mills and no one bothers to mitigate their sufferings.

The protesting workers had said that instead of repairing the machinery of the closed mills, the owners shifted it to Gujranwala, due to which the local workers were rendered

jobless.

They had demanded the government to take action against the people responsible for the closure of the mills. They also demanded the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of the matter.