Traders protest against sugar mills in DI Khan

DI KHAN: Traders and elected representatives of the area on Tuesday took out protest rally against the local Sugar Mills for not implementing the government prices fixed for sugarcane. Led by Abdur Rashid Thap, the protesters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the owners of local Sugar Mills. They marched through various areas and gathered outside the DI Khan Press Club. Speaking on the occasion, they said that the provincial government had fixed Rs180 per maund of the sugarcane but the Sugar Mills were purchasing the sugarcane at Rs148 per maund. The district administration had failed to implement the sugarcane prices fixed by the provincial government, they added. "If the matter remained so, then 50 percent of the sugarcane growers would leave farming the sugarcane," Malik Zafar Iqbal Khar said, adding that the issue could create sugar shortage in the region. They asked the district administration to take steps to implement the prices.