HYDERABAD: Ministers blamed for sugar crisis
HYDERABAD, Feb 13: The People’s Party Parliamentarians has held federal ministers responsible for the sugar crisis in the country. In a joint statement issued here on Monday, MPA Zahid Bhurgari, Syed Saleem Shah Bukhari, Syed Fayaz Ali Shah, Amanullah Siyal and other party leaders said almost all sugar mills were owned by ministers.
They claimed that huge stocks of sugar were lying in godowns of sugar mills which had created artificial shortage in the market.
They alleged that mill owners were earning millions of rupees by selling sugar in the black market.
The PPP leaders said the masses were groaning under price hike, adding that people were committing suicides because they could not feed their families.
They alleged that sugar mill owners were involved in tax evasion.
They demanded that the government should resign and fresh election should be held to elect true representatives of people.
SRTC EMPLOYEES: The president of the employees’ action committee of the defunct SRTC here on Monday announced that former employees would hold a peaceful demonstration outside the Sindh Assembly building on Feb 24 for acceptance of their demands.
He was talking to journalists at a hunger strike camp set up by the former employees outside the press club. The token hunger strike by the employees has entered 944th day.
He said an agreement had been signed between the Sindh government and employees of the SRTC on Dec 6, 1999, which said that if dues of the employees were not paid by a specific date, they would be given 15 per cent mark-up on their dues. But, he said, the government had violated the agreement.
He said the employees would also present a memorandum to members of the Sindh Assembly on Feb 24.
He warned that if the administration tried to stop them from holding the demonstration, they would resort to extreme measures.
MSF: Muslim Students Federation additional secretary Ali Akbar Behan has claimed that 1,500 senior activists of the federation’s Sindh chapter have resigned from the students’ wing of the ruling party.