City govt helping keep sugar prices stable

Sugar crisis has subsided, current effort is a safety cushion, said official.

LAHORE: The city government is providing nearly 200 bags of sugar to each tehsil municipal official (TMO) at mildly subsidised rates for small shopkeepers. District officers dealing with sugar prices say that they see no imminent crisis or shortage.

Chaudary Naseer Ahmad, the executive district officer (agriculture), said that the city government was providing Rs1-3 per kg margin for small shopkeepers who could not buy the commodity from outside the province.

A tehsil municipal official (TMO) explained that sugar was available in the wholesale market but small businesses were still depending on them for discounted sugar. He said he was receiving between 200 and 400 50kg bags, to supply to the small shops. He said that the DCO and the town officers had formed monitoring teams to ensure that shopkeepers did not overprice sugar.

TMO Ahmad Kamal said that in theory shopkeepers should not depend on the government. He said that the TMOs were doing the shopkeeper’s job in delivering sugar to their shops. “I can only help 15 or 20 shops in the area. I was at the Akbari Mandi today and prices in the wholesale market were essentially the same as the government prices,” Kamal said.

Zulfiqar Ali Ghumman, district officer (agriculture), said that the city government would keep sourcing imported sugar from Karachi until mills in the province started producing this season’s sugar. He said that the sugar shortage in Lahore had subsided. Ghumman said that in 20 days the sugarcane crop would be harvested, and Punjab’s natural sugar supply would be restored.

The Punjab food minister had announced on November 19 that 30,000 metric tons of sugar had been acquired so far. He had said that another 70,000 metric tons will reach the province in the near future.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2010.