Concerns voiced over likely issuance of NOC for sugar mills

PESHAWAR: The management of the sugar mills in Dera Ismail Khan has raised concerns over a likely decision by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to allow the establishment of a new sugar mills in the district.

The concerns were expressed in a letter sent by Ishaq Ali Qazi Advocate to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary, Secretary Agriculture, Secretary Food and other officials. It underlined the need for complying with decisions of the Peshawar High Court and the Supreme Court about restrictions on new sugar mills in the area.

The letter said that the Peshawar High Court had imposed a ban on setting up new sugar mills in Dera Ismail Khan and directed the provincial government not to issue the no objection certificates (NOCs) for this purpose.

According to the letter, any new sugar mill must meet conditions such as a minimum distance of 35 kilometers from the nearest existing mills, as well as sufficient availability of water and sugarcane.

However, it said that the current situation in Dera Ismail Khan was challenging as the four existing sugar mills were struggling to secure adequate sugarcane as 30 to 40 percent of which was sourced from Punjab. Given this scarcity, the establishment of a new

sugar mills would be unsustainable, it was argued in the letter.

It also noted that the provincial cabinet recently discussed issuing an NOC to a new sugar mills, which would contravene both Peshawar High Court orders and Supreme Court decisions limiting the expansion of sugarcane cultivation to prevent land degradation.

Quoting multiple court rulings, Ishaq Ali Qazi urged the provincial government not to proceed with the issuance of the NOC for any new mills.The letter pointed out that existing mills were already facing financial problems as regulations required them to operate for a minimum of 150 days of sugarcane crushing, but due to the current crop shortage, they were only able to operate for 60 to 70 days. Given these challenges, the letter urged the provincial government to halt the issuance of the NOC for the establishment of a sugar mills in Dera Ismail Khan.