Sugar mills reduce cotton production

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on Monday expressed serious concern over the transfer of sugar mills of the Sharif family to cotton zone of south Punjab, as 70 percent of mills are located in cotton belt, dwindling the cotton sowing area by one-fourth. The Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research that met here with Senator Muzaffar Hussain Shah in the chair asked the Punjab Sugar Cane Research and Development Board to explain what would be impact of transferring mills to south Punjab.

The Punjab Director General Sugarcane Research and Development Board Shahid Afghan termed it an administrative issue between Punjab and the federal governments. He said that sugar mills were being transferred to south Punjab due to more production of sugarcane in this area. He said that central Punjab had less sugarcane production. However, he added that crop zones were already established and this should be followed.

According to assessment of Textile Ministry, almost 70 percent of sugar mills are located in the core cotton zone of the country, especially in Punjab. The establishment of mills in the top cotton growing areas and increasing crushing capacity of the existing mills have led to 26 percent shrinkage in cotton areas, especially in south Punjab, including Rahim Yar Khan and Muzaffargarh.

The committee was also briefed on corruption in olive oil plants project. It was informed that multimillion rupees corruption was involved in this project and action was being taken against the officials involved in this mega scam. It was also informed that FIA was probing the issue to recover the money. FIA has arrested Dr Abdul Salam, Riaz Alam, Pervez Gondal and Rafiq. 

The committee summoned DG FIA to seek further details on this project. The chairman committee said that FIA top management should give investigation to an honest officer.

Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) chairman informed the committee that corruption was involved in two projects of olive oil plants. He said that one project was funded through the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) whereas the second project was funded by the Italian government. Both projects were related to cultivation of olive oil plants and under these projects, 0.4 million olive oil plants were to be brought in the country but only 0.2 million plants were brought. Out of it, 164,000 plants were accepted.

The PARC chairman further said that collusion between supplier and programme team was indentified and team was removed from the project following directions of standing committee. He said that payment was not made for these plants and meanwhile FIA started an investigation into this project.