LAHORE: A meeting of Special Committee No 12 of Punjab Assembly was held on Monday under the chairmanship of Provincial Minister for Law and Cooperatives Raja Basharat in which senior ministers Abdul Aleem Khan, Mian Shafi Mohammad, Khadija Farooqi and Samaira Ahmed along with other members of the Provincial Assembly and concerned officers were also present. The meeting considered the proposed amendments to the Punjab Sugar Factories Control Act, 1950. Cane Commissioner Punjab, Director Law and Food department’s officers briefed the committee.

The committee approved several amendments to make the Act more effective for farmers. According to the amendment in Section 8 of the said Act, the sugar mills would now be bound to start the crushing season by the date given by the government. In future, only the owner of the sugar factory or his nominated representative will be able to buy sugarcane and no one else will be able to buy sugarcane. Earlier, a particular area was allotted for each sugar mills outside which could not buy sugarcane, but now sugar mills will be able to buy sugarcane from anywhere in the province. Suggestions were also made to increase the powers of the Cane Commissioner to ensure recovery of farmers’ arrears, which the committee convened again two days later for further discussion.

On the occasion, MPA Mian Shafi Mohammad from Rahim Yar Khan said that due to the amended ordinance this year, the crushing season started on time and the cut in sugarcane weight and payments came to an end. He said that sugarcane growers were appreciating that for the first time in seventy years the Buzdar government had started the crushing season on time and the farmers were paid in full and on time but due to the expiration of the ordinances the farmers were stuck with Rs 11 billion as arrears.

“With the proposed amendments, efforts must be made to get the Punjab Sugar Factories Control Bill 2020 passed by the Assembly soon”, Shafi suggested. Raja Basharat said that maximum legislation for the protection and betterment of farmers under the direction of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar remained among the top priorities of the government.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021