State says no to sugar from Punjab

Lalit Mohan

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Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, June 11

The Himachal Food and Civil Supplies Department has said no to sugar from Punjab. The Centre had asked the state to procure sugar worth Rs 7 crore from government sugar mills in Punjab. The Punjab sugar mills were offering S-31 variety of sugar. However, the Himachal Food and Civil Supplies Department was supplying M-30 variety through its PDS shops.

The S-31 sugar crystal is small in size whereas the crystal of M-30 sugar is medium in size. The size of crystal is perceived as the quality of sugar.

Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Kishan Kapoor while talking to The Tribune said: “We cannot procure low quality sugar from Punjab mills. We shall write to the Centre to either ask Punjab mills to provide us M-30 variety of sugar or allot us sugar quota from Haryana sugar mills. We are supplying high-quality sugar at low cost to our people and cannot compromise on quality”.

SS Guleria, Managing Director, Food and Civil Supplies Corporation, said the amount of Rs 7 crore in question was the subsidy to be paid to Himachal by the Centre for the procurement of levy sugar for a period extending from 2011-12. At that time also the Himachal Food and Civil Supplies Corporation was asked to procure sugar from Punjab mills. The state did not procure as the quality sugar provided by Punjab mills was low.

“We had been claiming the subsidy amount of Rs 7 crore from the Centre since then. However, the government has again asked us to procure sugar from Punjab mills in lieu of the subsidy. Since the minister did not want low quality sugar to be procured from Punjab mills, we shall put the case before the government to take a decision on the matter,” he said.

Meanwhile Kapoor said the present government has reduced the prices of pulses by Rs 5 in PDS shops in the state. While supplying pulses at reduced rates, the government had also saved Rs 78 crore in procurement that would be used for extending other benefits to people, the minister said.

‘Cannot compromise on quality’ 

• The S-31 sugar crystal is small in size whereas the crystal of M-30 sugar is medium in size. The size of crystal is perceived as the quality of sugar. 
• Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Kishan Kapoor said: "We cannot procure low quality sugar from Punjab mills. We shall write to the Centre to either ask Punjab mills to provide us M-30 variety of sugar or allot us sugar quota from Haryana sugar mills. We are supplying high-quality sugar at low cost to our people and cannot compromise on quality".