The economic conditions of Pakistan are dire due to which the daily affairs of the people are directly affected. On the one hand, people are protesting because of the recent increase in the price of electricity, now the sudden increase in the price of sugar has also started making a place in the news.
In Lahore, the capital of Punjab, sugar is currently being sold up to Rs 175 per kg, while the official price of sugar is Rs 100 per kg.
Shopkeepers say that the wholesale price of sugar is increasing, so they cannot sell sugar at the official rate. Sugar is currently being sold at Rs 150 to Rs 175 per kg in various districts of Punjab. In just one day, the price of sugar has increased by ten rupees per kg.
Mohammad Azhar, a trader at Akbari Mandi, the largest wholesale market in Lahore, says that there is a third force driving the market at the moment. Market forces determine the rate of the sex that comes to the market. Currently, sugar consumption is high or it is being smuggled. If there is less supply of sugar in the wholesale market, its rate will inevitably increase. The government should close the loop holes in the sugar supply chain.
He said that we are sitting in the market. Neither sugar can be stored nor can it be blackened. Because our work is done by the hour. Whatever the problem is, it has nothing to do with the market. We remember the government said that this time there is a surplus of sugar but now sugar is becoming scarce in the market.
According to official data, 6.8 million tons of sugar have been produced in Pakistan this year. 100,000 tonnes of sugar surplus from last financial year was brought in this year. While two and a half lakh tons of sugar has been exported this year.
So where did the sugar go? There is no direct information in this regard, but wholesale traders and mill owners are alleging that Chinese is being smuggled into Afghanistan.
Chaudhry Waheed, owner of sugar mills from Lahore, while talking to Urdu News, said that there is no shortage of sugar, it is only being smuggled from hobnobbing. As the dollar rate has increased, many forces have become active that are using it as a weapon.
he further said that it is the responsibility of the government and the law enforcement agencies to stop the smuggling of sugar. If the situation remains like this, sugar will also stop. People have taken sugar from the market on a large scale but it has not reached the citizens of Pakistan.
Punjab’s caretaker government has launched a campaign against overselling and district governments are cracking down on shopkeepers selling goods beyond the official price list. One and a half hundred shopkeepers have been fined in one day in Lahore alone.
Punjab government spokesperson Aamir Mir says that there is a zero-tolerance policy against sellers of expensive goods and the caretaker chief minister Mohsin Naqvi is reviewing the situation himself. There is news about sugar and at this time missionaries are also on the move, they will not allow anyone to hoard and soon the situation will be under control.
Shafaqna Paksitan
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