As sugar prices head north,Pawar pins blame on Maya

“The 40 lakh tonnes of raw sugar has already been contracted and out of this 20 lakh tonnes have reached. But a bulk is lying unused in the ports,” he said.

Pawar said he had already written to Mayawati twice,once in November and the second time on December 29,requesting her to lift the ban on processing of imported raw sugar.

The ban was imposed following an agitation by farmers against overseas purchase of raw sugar,which they alleged would suppress sugarcane prices.

A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Prices (CCP) to be held on Tuesday is expected to approve a number of corrective measures that will include easing import norms on raw sugar as well as offload more wheat in the open market to reverse inflationary trends.

Pawar said that his ministry could move proposals that will allow processing of raw sugar lying in Kandla port in mills outside Uttar Pradesh. He added that the deadline for extension of white sugar import could be extended beyond March 31.

“There is a proposal from my ministry. The decision is to be taken tomorrow,” he said.

Besides an appeal by the CCP to Mayawati on Tuesday,the Centre could also amend usage norms for imported raw sugar,Pawar said. The CCP will have to do this to allow the raw sugar lying in Kandla port to be processed in mills outside UP.

Pawar’s statement ‘irresponsible’,price rise result of Centre’s policy’

LUCKNOW: Reacting to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s criticism of the UP government for not cooperating with the Centre in controlling sugar prices,Chief Minister Mayawati on Monday said that it (the rising prices) is the result of the Centre’s wrong policies as they did not create a buffer stock of sugar when production was good.

Accusing Pawar of making an “irresponsible statement” and shirking away from his responsibility of controlling the prices of essential commodities,Mayawati said such utterances of the Union Agriculture Minister provide encouragement to hoarders and black marketeers.

Mayawati said the state government had advised the Railway Board to postpone the transportation of raw sugar for a limited period in the wake of resentment among sugarcane farmers.

The Chief Minister maintained that the sugarcane crushing season of 2006-07 was good and the production figures of sugar touched 283 lakh metric tonne,well above the 264.16 lakh metric tonne recorded in 2007-08. “But the Centre failed to create adequate buffer stock for the future and,instead,allowed exports to benefit sugar mills,” she said. Last year,when facing a problem,the Centre decided to import sugar at a much higher price. Mayawati said her government had taken several measures to control the rising prices in the state. Officers had been given instructions to take action against hoarders and monitor prices,the CM said.