LAHORE  - As the sugar crisis deepens in Punjab and elsewhere in the country, the Punjab government on Friday sealed two sugar mills besides seizing hundreds of bags of the commodity during raids in different cities. The provincial authorities sprang into action after the sugar prices recorded a historic surge never seen before in recent times. Also, there were reports that the sweetener had disappeared in some of the places due to hoarding of the commodity.
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry Friday blamed the PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari and the Sharif family for the unprecedented rise in sugar prices. He alleged that Sindh had closed some sugar mills to create an artificial shortage of sugar. For understandable reasons though, the information minister conveniently forgot to make mention of the sugar mills owned by some of the PTI leaders. Acting on tip-offs from the Special Branch, the district administration along with the food department and police teams conducted raids in Lahore, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Faisalabad, and Rahim Yar Khan. The authorities sealed two sugar mills in Sargodha and Faisalabad, besides seizing 100 bags of sugar in Lahore, 480 bags in Sargodha, 960 bags in Sahiwal, and 6757 metric tonnes of the sweetener in Rahim Yar Khan. The seized sugar will be sold in the market at the official rate. Senior PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen controls 20 percent of the total sugar production alone.
The action against the sugar mafia has been started on the direction of the chief minister to ensure the availability of sugar at the officially fixed price. As the provincial government has intensified a crackdown on hoarders, the millers say they have very little stock left to be sold in the market. Also, the sugar mills are less likely to start the crushing of sugarcane by November 15 though the government is pinning hopes that the situation will improve after the mills run into operation.
Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal said that those fleecing consumers by creating an artificial shortage of essential commodities would be dealt with iron hands. He maintained that the crackdown on hoarders would continue without any discrimination. He said that the sale of sugar more than the ex-mill price of Rs84.75 and retail price of Rs89.75 per kg would not be allowed in any case. He directed the administrative officers to take stern action against those selling the sweetener above the fixed rate. He said that officials had been deployed in all sugar mills to keep a check on the stocks.