MULTAN City News

Unfair cotton price, high costs of inputs

‘Farmers to stage sit-in outside Parliament House’

From Our Correspondent

MULTAN: The farmers will stage a sit-in outside the Parliament House in the end of January to protest against unfair cotton price and high costs of inputs.

Talking to The News here on Thursday, Pakistan Kisan Ittehad president Khalid Khokhar said that the party had started contacting and mobilising the farmers in the province to participate in the protest. He said the farmers would also burn their cotton crop during the protest. He said that only 5,398,809 bales could be produced at the end of cotton season in the Punjab as compared to 10 million bales produced last year. He said that the cotton production registered a decline of 45 per cent due to substandard seeds and costly inputs.

He said that the PKI had launched a protest drive in south Punjab and the Multan Electric Power Company offices would be besieged against prolonged loadshedding and increase in agriculture power tariff. He called for imposing agriculture emergency in the country to save the dying fields. Khalid Khokhar said that the farmers were facing several problems but the government was not taking steps to resolve them. The farmers were not in a position to afford costly pesticides and seeds, he said, adding that the government was taking indirect taxes from them on all types of inputs associated with the cultivation, including machinery. He said that each cotton farmer was facing loss of Rs 30,000 per acre while the paddy farmers were facing loss of Rs 20,000 per acre. He announced that the farmers would not pay taxes on their agricultural income.

Khalid Khokhar urged the government to boycott agri trade with India. He demanded the government review the agri policies and reformed them. He also demanded the government abolish all taxes on pesticides, fertilizers and agricultural machinery. He said that the government should withdraw all taxes on the farmers and their commodities to help them play their role in the country’s economy.

NEW YEAR SECURITY: Police have finalised security measures for New Year night and posted additional force on roads, besides constituting special teams to prevent one-wheeling and imposing ban on aerial firing.

There will also be a ban on fireworks and display of weapons. Meanwhile, City Police Officer Muhammad Azhar Akram would pay visits to the important spots to monitor security arrangements. Special teams of Elite Force have been formed in the district and five police reserves would remain on standby.