HYDERABAD:
The Sindh Abadgar Ittehad, an organization working for farmers’ rights, challenged the government’s position that the increase in fuel prices is a consequence of the ongoing war against Iran. Led by its leader Nawab Zubair Talpur, Ittehad staged a protest in front of the Hyderabad Press Club on Monday, demanding a reduction in the price of diesel fuel to Rs 250 per litre.
“There is no justification for keeping the price above Rs250 liters except exploitation of people in the name of taxes,” he argued. He claimed that the government had earned over Rs 1.2 trillion from taxes on petroleum products in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year.
He lamented that, on the one hand, farmers are forced to buy expensive fuel and, on the other, the government does not control overpriced inputs or underestimated crop prices. Referring to the Sindh government’s claim that it procures wheat from farmers at the rate of Rs 3,500 per 40 kilograms, he maintained that only a few government wheat procurement centers have so far been opened in the province as growers have been left at the mercy of free market middlemen.
The Ittehad demanded that the government increase the procurement rate of wheat to Rs 4,500 per 40 kg and that of cotton to Rs 10,000 per 40 kg. Protesters also called for an end to the shortage of irrigation water.
