Growers’s body to approach court against wheat import scam

HYDERABAD: The Sindh Abadgar Ittehad, a farmers’ body, has decided to approach the judiciary against the wheat import scandal.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the Sindh Abadgar Ittehad that was chaired by its president Nawab Zubair Ahmed Talpur at its central office. Farmers’ representatives said in the meeting that despite 4.7 million tonnes of wheat stock in the country, farmers were harmed by buying defective wheat from outside.

It was alleged that financial corruption to the tune of Rs85 billion was committed in the wheat import scandal as despite the availability of wheat in the country, 3.6 million tonnes of wheat were imported, causing damage to the national exchequer and farmers.

The participants demanded strict action against the people involved in the wheat import scandal. They also demanded that a list of all the districts in Sindh where the bardana had been given should be released.

The Sindh Abadgar Ittehad also announced its full support to the protest movement of Punjab settlers. It also expressed concern over the fact that controversial flood canals of Punjab were still open despite the improvement of water flow in the rivers.

The Sindh Abadgar Ittehad said that even though there was water in Sindh, due to the mismanagement of the irrigation department, there was no water in the areas below Udero Lal. It was alleged that irrigation water had been commercialised, and demands were being made for bribes in exchange for water.

The farmers’ body said that due to the water mismanagement, crops had been damaged from Naseer sub-division to Khesana canal.

It was said in the meeting that at present, Rohri Canal and Nara Canal had been flowing with 13,000 cusecs, but still farmers were not getting water. They asked the superintendent engineer of the Rohri Canal to investigate the matter and take action against officers responsible for water mismanagement.

The meeting also expressed concern over the cultivation of rice on perennial canals and demanded immediate action against it. The participants also demanded action against those selling fake maize seeds. The meeting was attended by Muhammad Anwar Haq, Mir Zafarullah Talpar, Mohib Ali Marri, Javed Riaz, Abdul Razzaq Abrejo, Khan Muhammad Kamboh, Abdul Haq Zainur, Abdul Rahim Dars and Sharif Nizamani.