Sugar crisis: Confusion worse confounded

Notwithstanding, the twists and turns of the governments at Islamabad and Lahore, the suo motto hectic activities at the high courts in Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi and of late, the Supreme Court of Pakistan being seized with the situation reprimanding and rebuking the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association and the Punjab government, there seems to be no relief to the people, as the sugar crisis, which had erupted weeks ago last Ramazan, fast drifted from bad to worse, piling miseries to the people left unprotected to the profiteers and exploiters fleecing them at will.The Supreme Court of Pakistan directed the government on Friday to issue a notification setting the price of sugar at Rs40 per kilogramme across the country until the submission of a report by a proposed inquiry commission.The court also formed the commission it proposed earlier, and appointed Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) Chairman Khalid Mirza to head the body, authorising him to work out the cost of production and mill owners’ profit. Meanwhile, CCP Chairman Khalid Mirza said Friday we are in the middle of an investigation and the raids were conducted on the three sugar mills, while the preliminary investigations found out that it smacks of irregularities in the sugar price. However about the sugar price fixation, Chairman CCP said that he would only suggest the Supreme Court what should the appropriate price be, otherwise, price determination is not the job of CCP. Reacting to the apex court rebuke for filing an appeal against an LHC decision that sugar be sold at Rs40 a kilogram and stress it should have focused on ensuring this happened instead of challenging the verdict, the Punjab government has taken over sugar mills. According to a report, government officials have been deployed in the mills, while police contingents have been sent to guard the mills’ gates. Sugar Dealers Association Chairman Asghar Butt said uncertainty prevailed in the sugar market after the sugar mills failed to offer a single bag for sale. Chaudhry Abdul Waheed, a former executive committee member of the Sugar Mills Association, said they were helpless in the face of the Punjab government’s action. “We will not sell sugar at Rs40 even if the government takes away all of our stocks,” the report quoted him saying. Consumers out in the market in search of sugar complained its non-availability in the open market even at the whimsically asking price, as the stockholders and wholesalers have held back the supply altogether since the announcement of the court order, while the rising pressure and short supply at the government-run utility stores, buying two kilo sugar bag standing in the never-ending queue is a full-time job of a man with special stamina and patience.