By Zaheer Abbasi

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday said that sugar price went up to Rs140 per kg because three sugar mills operating in Sindh were closed and the subsequent hoarding of sugar by mills in Punjab.

The government is not in a position to take action against the sugar mills in Punjab against hoarding of sugar due to stay order taken by the sugar mills against the anti-hoarding law, the prime minister said this while addressing a public gathering after inaugurating a mother and child hospital in Attock.

He said that the petroleum prices in Pakistan are relatively low compared to other regional countries despite latest increase, adding that the government performance should be judged after five years because it was given mandate for five years and not two years or three years.

Explaining about sugar, he said that information collected by him after the recent increase in sugar price revealed that three sugar mills in Sindh, which were operating, were closed. This led to the shortage of sugar.

After the closure of the sugar mills in Sindh, he said the sugar mills in Punjab have started boarding and when the Punjab chief secretary was asked that to bring the commodity in the market after recovering sugar from mills warehouses to reduce the price of sugar, he stated that the sugar mills have taken stay order against the provincial law.

As per law, hoarding of sugar is prohibited in Punjab and the government can take action against them, he added.

The probe further disclosed that the sugar mills have not only taken stay order against the provincial anti-hoarding law but also Rs40 billion penalty imposed by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) for cartelisation and Rs500 billion penalty imposed by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for selling off-book sugar, the prime minister said.

The prime minister directed the Punjab chief minister to instruct the provincial law minister and advocate general to vacate stay order of the sugar mills from the court because the sugar mills are minting unfair profit from the common man.

The prime minister said that the dearness is the issue of the entire world following corona, primarily because supply chain and manifold increase in freight cost besides massive increase in oil prices from $45 to $85.

The increase in oil prices led to increase in the prices of everything else.

Additionally, he said that pulses and palm oil is also being imported and their prices have considerably increased in the international market.

The premier said that petrol is cheap in Pakistan compared to India and Bangladesh, and the government kept the price of petrol low by reducing taxes and petroleum levy.

Prices of petroleum products increased again

He expressed the hope that the prices of commodities in the international market would come down after the winter, which would have a positive impact on the domestic prices.

The prime minister said that the government has been trying to protect the common man against inflation and for the first time 30 percent subsidy on flour, ghee, and pulses was being provided through Ehsaas card to 20 million families besides interest free loans to two million families through Kamyab Pakistan Programme.

The prime minister said that his government's performance should be judged after 5 years and not after two or three years because it was given a mandate of five years. People would know after five years whether poverty in Pakistan has not decreased and also recalled that how provincial government was initially being criticised but after five years, it returned to power with a two-thirds majority.

After five years, it will be decided whether the life of the common man has improved or not, he added.

He said that the mother and child hospital was much needed in Attock as Pakistan has been among the list of the countries where mortality rate during pregnancy is very high.

This article first appeared in Business Recorder