MIRPURKHAS - Scores of employees of Sindh Horticulture Research Institute and peasants held a demonstration here on Monday outside the press club to protest against the Benazir Basti planned to be built over the land of the institute.

Led by Malook Ujjan, the protestors were carrying banners and placards in their hands, inscribed with slogans,  and were raising slogans against the government and also demanding the withdrawal of the housing scheme.

Talking to media persons, the protesters said that the land belonged to their institute, and that not only the staff but the peasants, working on the land, risked losing their livelihood if the scheme was built.

They said that the government should get a separate land for the project, because all the employees and peasants were poor and they were living on these lands for decades and also cultivating the land to benefit the institute.

They added that their institute acquired millions of rupees annually from the lands and fruit orchards, including the mango orchard. They demanded the Sindh chief minister, secretary agriculture, provincial minister for agriculture and other authorities to take immediate notice of the matter, cancel the project, and get some other land for the purpose.