All Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA), Islamabad Thursday termed its meetings with the federal and provincial governments as futile as they did not produce any solid outcome in the issues facing the sugar industry.

In a statement, a PSMA spokesman said that the promises made by the government were not fulfilled. He said the fixing of sugar prices became the talk of the town, though the government had vowed to run the sugar industry on a competitive basis. Neither the government has eliminated the middle-men of sugarcane nor did it ensure availability of crops at the government-fixed rate of Rs. 225 per maund, added the spokesman.

He maintained that no development was witnessed in the cases of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Competition Commission of Pakistan against the sugar industry. He held that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had also imposed hefty fines on the tax returns of the last five years, but no progress had been made to quash these fines despite promises.

He highlighted that these measures were creating continuous problems for the sugar industry. “Though the government promised to resolve these issues, no positive outcome has come out of it so far,” he said.

During the meeting, all PSMA members requested the government to resolve these problems in order to save the country’s sugar industry. They said the survival of the sugar industry was essential for the country’s agriculture and farmers. Turning a blind eye to these issues is tantamount to badly destroying the sugar industry, the country’s economy, farmers, and agriculture, they concluded.

Source: Pro Pakistani