Sugar scandal

This refers to the article ‘Rs3b subsidy: Buzdar ‘forgot’ what he had decided’ (May 22, 2020). Reports are circulating in the media about the alleged criminal activities of some sugar mills, like keeping fake records of production and sales, underpaying and exploiting cane growers, artificially creating sugar shortages to inflate prices, overstating production costs and export quantities, and under-valuing by-products. These matters must be further investigated in depth, preventive mechanisms installed, and culprits punished in due course. However, there are some matters which demand immediate action against the culprits. For instance, if sugar exports were authorized on the assurance that there were sufficient sugar stocks, why has the price of sugar skyrocketed? Furthermore, exports continued even during the price spike, giving the sugar producers an additional profit, which was far higher than even the subsidy?

According to the article, Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar claimed that the subsidy was granted by the cabinet and was a collective decision. However, the report of the Sugar Commission claims that the Punjab CM had already decided in principle to grant the subsidy even before the cabinet meeting was held and when pressed further on this issue, the CM stated that he has forgotten what he had decided before the meeting. Even if the federal cabinet allowed the export of sugar, Prime Minister Imran Khan cannot evade any responsibility altogether. So, while the prime minister deserves credit for ordering and making public various inquiries, he must ensure that appropriate and immediate action is taken against the obviously guilty, otherwise he will lose whatever credibility he still has.

S R H Hashmi

Karachi