PM Imran's close aides, influential political families linked to sugar crisis
Incompetence of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa govts responsible for flour crisis
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An investigation into the recent sugar and flour crises has revealed that people close to Prime Minister Imran Khan were behind these crises.
Influential political families were the key beneficiaries of the sugar crisis. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Khan Tareen and Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar made billions of rupees from the sugar crisis, the report says. Tareen made billions in the name of subsidy on sugar as well.
The report says that export of sugar made the price of the commodity shoot locally. The report says that these politically influential people first made money by exporting sugar and then by importing the commodity. Also, the Sugar Advisory Board failed to take decisions on time.
Referring to the flour crisis, the report says that incompetence of the provincial governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa resulted in flour crisis in the country.
The flour crisis started in November 2019 and worsened around mid-January 2020. When the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) took over the governmental in August 2018, the price of flour was Rs50 per kilogram. The crisis came to surface with its full intensity around mid-January when the Flour Mills Association (FMA) raised the flour price by Rs6 per kilogram, ultimately taking the price to Rs70 per kilogram. This was an increase of Rs20 per kilogram since inception of the PTI government.
According to the food department’s report submitted to the Lahore High Court in end of January, at least 204 mills were involved in the flour crisis in Punjab. The report mentioned that licenses of 28 mills were suspended and a Rs5.62 million fine was imposed on them. The department’s report showed that 14 of the mills were located in the Lahore Division and eight in Rawalpindi.
On the heels of flour crisis, the country was hit by a severe shortage of sugar. During the first 15 months of the PTI government, sugar prices rose as high as Rs64 per kilogram. Later, wholesale rates bumped up from Rs64 to Rs74 per kilogram and an acute shortage surfaced in the country.