PM directs crackdown on sugar mafia

Convenes meeting in Islamabad today to chalk out strategy to prevent hoarding, smuggling

LAHORE:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif gave the nod to a major crackdown on sugar smugglers, hoarders, and profiteers on Sunday during a high-level meeting in Punjab’s provincial capital.

According to a statement issued after the meeting, the PM expressed his displeasure over the reports of profiteering as well as smuggling and convened a meeting in Islamabad on Monday (today) to chalk out a strategy to prevent these activities.

The premier ordered the authorities to take strict action against people involved in hoarding, profiteering, and smuggling and punish them in an exemplary manner.
Shehbaz directed caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi to take effective measures and monitor to control the price of sugar in the province.

He said the caretaker provincial government must devise a mechanism so that the sugar seized from smuggling and hoarders could be supplied to the people at a standard price.

The premier directed the caretaker CM to meet with sugar mill owners and come up with a collective strategy to control the price of the sweetener.

Last week, PM Shehbaz had held a meeting on the issue in Islamabad as well and the actions taken afterwards had brought down the price of sugar in Punjab to Rs92 per kilogramme.

In a separate meeting in Lahore, the premier maintained that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) during its rule deliberately interrupted the development projects initiated by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) between 2013 to 2018.

The PM claimed that instead of initiating new uplift projects in Punjab, the PTI government halted the ones initiated by the PML-N government.

Shehbaz claimed that the people of Punjab were “punished” for supporting the PML-N.

The participants of the meeting were given a detailed briefing on the construction of the Imamia colony flyover project in Lahore.

PM Shehbaz claimed that during the last four years of the previous government, the affairs of the province were “handed over to an incompetent and puppet chief minister”, referring to ex-Punjab CM Usman Buzdar.

“Instead of focusing on the progress of the province, the office of the chief minister was misused for political maneuvering at the federal level,” he added.

The participants were further briefed about the proposed Lahore-Sialkot motorway link road “built to facilitate the people of Gujranwala”.

He directed the caretaker chief minister to form a three-member committee to give a detailed briefing on the project in the next meeting. The premier also visited the under-construction Lahore bridge and the CBD underpass to review the pace of work.

During his visit to the construction site of Lahore bridge, the prime minister was informed that the Lahore Development Authority project worth Rs1.71 billion was started in the year 2021, but delayed for two years because of lack of issuance of a no-objection certificate.

The premier expressed his displeasure over the pace of work and directed the authorities to take legal action against the officials responsible for the delay.

The officials were given a month's time to complete the project instead of two.
During his visit to the CBD underpass, PM Shehbaz described the delay as unjustified.

He questioned the hiring of a third-party for validation. The premier directed authorities to appoint a renowned third party.

(With input from APP)