Sindh traders have demanded abolition of 'Naka' (check-posts) established on road sides to collect market committee fee under the contract system rather this fee should be realised within the premises of markets.
This demand came at an All Sindh Traders Convention (ASTC) held here on Sunday, organised by the Sindh Balochistan Rice Millers and Traders Association (SBRMTA) in collaboration with the All Pakistan Organisation of Small Traders and Cottage Industry (Apostci) to discuss the matters regarding the newly-introduced contract system for collecting market committee fee at check-posts on road sides forcibly.
The convention declared not to pay this fee if the check-posts are not abolished forthwith.
It also put forth a demand that the chief minister and the governor of Sindh should contact in this regard within a week to settle the matter, if not, the traders would launch a province wide protest that would include wheel jams, processions.
The Convention constituted 13 members action committee for evolving a strategy for future action.
Speakers of the convention opined that the bureaucracy had bent upon to ruin the economy of the country and especially the agriculture sector which was the back-bone of country's economy.
They said all the institutions and departments of agriculture stood ruined and growers were getting no benefits from them.
They expressed astonishment over the injustice that fee was also being realised on the agriculture produce brought from other provinces though the fee had already been paid there.
Association General Secretary Mir Mohammad Shaikh demanded that the wheat purchased from open market and kept in godown should not be forfeited and raids not be conducted.
In Sindh, the contractors were collecting fee on both export and import which was nothing but injustice. The Convention was attended by the traders from all over the Sindh.