LAHORE: The Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) has expressed utter shock over procurement of sugar at a higher price of Rs140 per kg from sugar mill owners by the Punjab government.

Khalid Mahmood Khokhar, President Pakistan Kissan Ittehad, said on Monday that sugarcane minimum purchase price was fixed at Rs300 per 40kg for the previous crop and the federal government estimated and notified sugar retail price at Rs98.82 per kg for the current marketing season accordingly.

However, he was astonished to note that Punjab government allowed sugar mill owners to increase sugar price by over 40 percent, terming it an arbitrary steps.

He was commenting on the statement of Caretaker Chief Minister Punjab about selling of sugar at concessionary rate at model bazaars and Sunday bazaars. Talking to a delegation of sugar mill owners in Lahore on Sunday, the CM said sugar mill owners will sell sugar to provincial government at a rate of 140 rupees per kg and sale of this sugar will benefit the people of the province.

The Kissan leader said if management of sugar mills is allowed to sell sugar at much higher price by the provincial government, farmers are justified to demand over 40 percent higher sugarcane dues on the similar lines for previous crop with retrospective effect.

Farmers are very much within their right to ask for the compensation over low sugarcane price similar to what provincial government permitted to sugar mill owners over price of sweetener, he added.

He termed consent given to sugar mills for increasing sugar price without consulting stakeholders, particularly sugarcane grower, tantamount to backstabbing farmers and consumers. Besides being cultivators, we are also consumer of the sugar.

Hence, the abrupt decision taken by the Punjab government to raise sugar price by over 40 percent is really shocking and contrary to rules and regulations. The Rs140 per kg price is a sweet relief to mill owners not the farmers or the consumers, he observed.

The PKI President also demanded action over calculation of wrong sugarcane price for previous season, which was on much lower side. If Punjab government really wanted to lift sugar price by over Rs41 per kg than the notified sweetener price based on Rs300 per 40kg sugarcane rate, they should have investigated first why rate of sugarcane was fixed at lower side, he posed a question.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023