Sindh Assembly tightens laws as sugar crisis deepens: millers barred from buying sugarcane from middlemen

Whereas the crises-hit people of Sindh are facing one of the worst sugar crisis, their representatives in Sindh Assembly seem to be interested in introducing new legislation's, such as the Sugar Factories Control (Sindh Amendment) Bill, 2009 which was unanimously adopted by the provincial legislature on Friday.
Sindh Assembly, through amending the Sugar Factories Control Act, 1950 in its application to Sindh during its Friday's sitting at Assembly Building, introduced various reforms, like restricting the factory owners from buying sugarcane from the middlemen or "Aarthi", banning the middleman to sell or supply cane, revamping a regulatory Board with powers of the cane commissioner cut remarkably, setting a 15-day deadline for buyers to make payment to the growers, failing which the former would have to pay a government fixed markup to the latter etc.
The changes are aimed at, what Information Minister Shazia Marri told a post-session briefing, activating a "mechanism of co-ordination" between different agencies, improving and creating an atmosphere where the supply of sugarcane is improved and uninterrupted. Earlier, Agriculture Minister Ali Nawaz Shah, who, as per Section 2 of the amended Bill, would now replace the secretary agriculture as a "chairperson" of the Board that would comprise the secretary, cane commissioner, two MPAs, representatives of sugar mills, growers, Abadgar board, chamber of agriculture and other "official and non-official members appointed by the provincial government, told the house that the legislation was basically aimed at eliminating the role of middleman completely.
It would be pertinent to mention here that the poverty-stricken masses are tantalising for sugar, one the daily-use essential kitchen items, since Monday, October 5, 2009, when the retailers and wholesalers had stopped selling at least 0.117 million metric tones of their available sugar stocks on the plea that selling sugar at the rates prescribed by the Supreme Court was uneconomical for them.
Since then, there has been no serious and effective effort on the part of provincial and city governments to resolve the dispute and ensure an uninterrupted supply of the essential food item to the consumer.
The Sugar Factories Control (Sindh Amendment) Bill, 2009, whereas has come as a fresh ray of hope for the poor sugarcane growers, who have long been breathing hard under the exploitative shackles of middlemen and sugar millers, who owe millions of rupees to the growers even to date.
"No person other than the cane grower shall sell or supply cane to an occupier of a factory... No occupier of a factory shall purchase the cane through a middleman but all purchases shall be made directly from the cane grower," say Section 5, Subsection 15 (1) and (2) of the Bill.
The bill also offers remedy to the longstanding dispute between the millers and growers over the issue of non-payment of outstanding dues, as according to Section 6, Subsections 4 and 5 "the price of the cane shall be paid to the cane grower by issuing payee's account cheque... If the payment... is not made within fifteen days of supply of the cane, markup at the rate as may be fixed by government... shall also be paid to the cane growers in addition to the principal amount."
The PPP-led house passed all eight sections of the Bill, which according to the "Statement of Objects and Reasons" was amended "to meet with the future requirement for the support of growers to facilitate and strengthen their role to enhance the sugarcane yield", clause-by-clause unanimously.
Earlier, the house offered "Fateha" for the victims of Thursday's terrorist attacks in Lahore and for the former Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan on the occasion of his 58th death anniversary on Friday.
Expectedly, the introduction and consideration of Sindh Protection and Prohibition of Amenity Plots, Bill, 2009, Sindh Building Control (Amendment) Bill, 2009 and the Cancellation of Bogus Entries of Government Land Bill, 2009, were respectively deferred till next session, for an indefinite period and Monday.
During Question Hour ministers for Fisheries and Wildlife, respectively, Zahid Ali Bhurgari and Daya Ram responded to supplementary questions of the members. The house would assemble again on Monday at 10am. Later, speaking at a press briefing Information Minister Shazia Marri expressing solidarity with minorities, congratulated them and appealed to the Hindu community to celebrate Dewali, with the utmost simplicity in view of the present uncertain security situation. "We would appreciate if you celebrate Dewali with simplicity," she added.