A sub-committee of the provincial cabinet has de-cided to regularise the production of sugar beyond the prescribed quantity in the sugar mills of Punjab.
Provincial Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Environment Protection and Cooperatives Muhammad Basharat Raja chaired the meeting of the Cabinet Committee, Provincial Minister for Communications and Works Ali Afzal Sahi, Secretary Industries Dr. Ahmad Javed Qazi, Cane Commissioner Zaman Wattoo and other officials also participated.
The meeting was briefed that some sugar mills were producing more sugar than the stipulated quantity, but they did not obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the government for the purpose.
In the context of sugar shortage, there was no prob-lem with additional production, but such sugar mills should fulfill legal requirements. Chairman Com-mittee Basharat Raja said that the mechanism related to increasing the production of sugar should be created, adding that for the purpose, work was going on at the government level.
He directed the secretary industries to fix different slabs for additional production periods and the government fees.
Basharat Raja said that the new crushing season was about to start so the matter would be dealt with as soon as possible.
It was also briefed that the fee would be determined according to all the days of the crushing season of the specified years.
Provincial Minister Ali Afzal Sahi expressed satis-faction that sugar mills had agreed to the government’s decision to regularise additional production.
