Malik and Kaira differ ‘sweetly’

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ISLAMABAD: An interesting situation developed on Wednesday when two important PPP federal ministers locked horns over the jurisdiction of action against sugar hoarders.
During a media briefing on cabinet decisions, Interior Minister Rehman Malik warned hoarders to bring sugar stocks into the market or get ready to face action, while Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said action against hoarders was the prerogative of provincial governments.
“I ‘request’ the hoarders to bring piled up stocks in the open market. After two days, I will issue a formal warning. Otherwise, stern action will be taken against them and targeted and sting operations will be conducted. The government will give ten percent of sugar recovered to informers if they give correct information,” Malik said.
The minister said he had directed intelligence agencies to collect information about hoarders, so that sting operations and raids could be conducted to recover the stocked sugar. He added that the Interior Ministry would make public the list of contact numbers for provision of information from the general public for action against hoarders.
Malik alleged that some sugar mill owners were involved in cartelisation and hoarding of sugar stocks to mint money, while the government was being held responsible for the increase in the commodity’s price. But Information Minister Kaira said action against hoarders was a provincial subject and the federal government should not be held responsible for increase in sugar prices.
“The cabinet was briefed on sugar situation and it was informed that there was no shortage of sugar stocks. The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has stocks of 350,000 tonnes while PSMA has stocks of 200,000 tonnes. Now the demand of the country is around 300,000 tonnes per month, which can be easily met,” he added.
The minister said the TCP would provide sugar to provinces at the rate of Rs 65-70 per kg and half of the total amount would be provided to the Punjab government, while rest would be distributed to other three provinces, FATA and Gilgit Baltistan. “We have also imported 750,000 tonnes of sugar,” he added.