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| Sugar selling at Rs60/kg as mills stop supply |
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Sugar mill sealed for hoarding
Friday, October 16, 2009
By Riaz Khan Daudzai
PESHAWAR: No end to the sugar crisis in NWFP is in sight as the administration has failed to implement the price of the commodity fixed by the Supreme Court and the essential item was again selling at Rs55 to Rs60 per kg in the provincial metropolis on Thursday.
The sugar price had eased to Rs43 per kg in Peshawar city due to improved supply, however, official sources said the sugar mills did not release any sugar to the market on Thursday causing shortage in the wholesale bazaars where dealers had sold out their stocks on Wednesday.
The Food Department has taken action against one of the sugar mills, Al-Moiz Sugar Mills, in DI Khan, and sealed the stock of over 9,000 tonnes of sugar - about 1,80,000 bags of 50kg.
A case against the administration of the mill was also registered under the relevant law.
The prices of sugar in other districts of the province and some tribal agencies varied from Rs50 to Rs100 per kg and Buner district of the militancy-hit Malakand division remained the worst where sugar was unavailable even for Rs200 per kg.
The retailers in downtown of the provincial metropolis were selling only one kilogram of sugar per customer and that too at Rs60/kg.
In the ancient wholesale bazaar of the Rampura Gate where a day earlier police baton-charged the sugar seekers, the 50 kg sack of sugar that was selling at ex-mill rate of Rs1,850 before the sugar-crisis was now being sold at Rs2,700.
The official sources said the sugar mills did not release any sugar to the market on Thursday and some of the dealers sold out their stocks they had received from the mills in DI Khan in the evening on Wednesday.
They blamed all the mess on cartelisation in the sugar industry and said that the nominated dealers and administration had also become part of the sugar cartel in the province.
The sources also claimed that the Food Department officials and sugar mills could not agree on any price fixing formula in their Saturday meeting due to which both the dealers and millers got a free hand to sell the commodity on exorbitant rates.
However, the sources in the Food Department told The News that the sugar mills did not release sugar to the dealers as they were waiting for the Competition Commission report to be submitted to the Supreme Court today whereby they expect some relief and a fixation of price more than that fixed by the apex court last month.
They said that the sugar mills brought the provincial government to its knees and they were not releasing the 12,000 tonnes sugar they earlier agreed to release from Monday.
They also claimed that the government and sugar mills could not evolve any price fixing mechanism so far and the government had not yet finalised any plan for the purpose.
The Director Food, NWFP, Abdul Ghafoor Baig, when contacted, said that the government had initiated action against the sugar mills that had refused to release sugar to the dealers.
He said stock of the Al-Moiz Sugar Mills in DI Khan had been seized and about 9,000 tonnes of sugar had also been sealed which would later be supplied to the market.
Baig added that action against other sugar millers in the province, who were not willing to bring out their stocks to the market, was also on the anvil.
About the role of the district food authorities, the director said any ration controller, district food officer would be taken to the task if found involved in any underhand deal with the millers or dealers.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
