Lahore: Consumers in Pakistan are struggling with high sugar prices. Therefore, now the government is exploring all measures in order to low down sugar prices.
Taking strict action to keep a check on the hike in sugar prices, the Punjab government in Pakistan has decided to declare all illegal activities carried out within the industry as “non-bailable crimes”.
To implement the decision, government will bring changes in the “Sugar Factories Control Act” for the first time. This will provide power to the sugarcane commissioner and deputy commissioner to recover pending arrears from millers.
As per new rule, the millers will be sentenced to three years rigorous imprisonment instead of existing one year if a mill is found delaying cane payments, making illegal cuts, using faulty weights, not informing the government about detailed transactions, hoarding sugar and selling sugar at a high price than the ones fixed by the government.
As per the amendment, the maximum limit of penalty will also be increased. According to the reports, a draft of the proposed legal amendment has been sent to the law department for approval.
According to the reports, in Lahore, the retail price of sugar has hiked to Rs 85 per kg and 50 kg sack is being sold at a wholesale price of Rs 4,000. The same scenario is in Karachi, Faisalabad and other cities. People are agitating against the hike in rates and are demanding the government to intervene and act.
The Price Monitoring Committee, in its recent meeting, expressed serious concern at the hike in sugar price. As a precautionary measure, Pakistan has decided to import 300,000 tons of sugar and to impose a ban on its export.
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