The Senate Standing Committee on Finance on Tuesday pressed the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) to clear cane growers’ dues.
The committee meeting, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, was hearing millers who sought its help in getting the promised subsidies.
The committee was briefed by Senior Vice Chairman PSMA Sikandar Khan, and PSMA Sindh Zone’s Asim Usman.
The PSMA representatives said that they had approached the Senate Committee to sort out the issue of non-payment of subsidy by the government on sugar exports.
However, an objection was raised by Senator Kamil Ali Agha who said the committee should not listen to the millers till they clear all payments to the growers. Other members of the committee also supported his stance.
Mr Mandviwalla said the association needed to ensure that timely payments were made to cane growers who had to invest in next year’s crop.
Mr Khan informed the committee that Rs235 billion were paid to growers in 2016 season and only Rs1bn were pending against bankrupt sugar mills.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday decided to ask the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet to stop advance payments to sugar mills after the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) revealed that six mills owed it Rs2.65 billion.
Commerce Secretary Younis Dagha informed a meeting of the PAC that the TCP had moved court against the defaulting sugar mills.
According to an audit report, Tandlianwala Sugar Mills, owned by Humayun Akhtar Khan, is the biggest defaulter with an outstanding amount of Rs1.15bn, followed by TMK Sugar Mills, owned by Mohsin Tabani, with Rs640.74 million, Abdullah Sugar Mills Limited Rs510.64m and Sehri Sugar Mills Rs150m.The commerce secretary said the funds had been transferred to the sugar mills under the head of ‘advance payments’. He said the matter related to the advance payments to the six sugar mills had been referred to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for inquiry.
He said the bank guarantee of only 10 per cent of the total amount had been recovered from these mills, adding that the recoverable amount had reached Rs2.051bn, including markup and interest.
The advance payments had been made by the TCP to Abdullah Sugar Mills (Depalpur), Abdullah Sugar Mills, Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills, TMK Sugar Mills, Seri Sugar Mills and Tandlianwala Sugar Mills for the purchase of sugar in 2008 and 2009. After the mills failed to deliver the contracted quantity of sugar, the TCP filed a case in the Sindh High Court for the recovery of the amount.
Mr Dagha told the PAC that the contracts had been granted to these sugar mills under terms of reference approved by the then ECC.
At this, the committee sought details from NAB about its inquiry into the scam.
TCP chairman Sheikh Mushtaq informed the PAC that the Utility Stores Corporation and National Fertiliser Marketing Limited had remitted Rs217m and Rs237m, respectively, to the TCP for supply of sugar, wheat and urea. He said an amount of Rs45.5bn, out of total Rs50.6bn, had been recovered from various organisations since 2013.
The PAC directed the commerce ministry to submit the export policy and details of last three years’ sugar export at the next meeting of the committee.
The commerce secretary informed the committee that the export quota was granted to sugar mills on a first come, first served basis.
(TORTURING FARMERS)A case had been registered against the owners of the Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills with the Alipur Police Station on charge of torturing two sugarcane farmers for demanding payment for their crop from the suspects.
Mian Ilyas Mehraj, Mian Abdullah Ilyas and Haseeb Ilyas, the owners of the mills, and Admin Officer Altaf have been nominated in the case. Mian Ilyas is brother-in-law of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
The farmers, Muhammad Asif and Riaz, in the first information report (FIR), told the police they had sold sugarcane to the Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills in tehsil Jatoi in 2015/16 and they had documentary record of the receipt of sugarcane issued by the mills.
The owners had promised them to pay cash in July 2017 but when they went to the mills two days ago, they were kept locked in a room for four hours.
The farmers claimed that the nominated suspects as well as their staff tortured them, threatened them with dire consequences, tore away the documents they had got with them and snatched their mobile phones and cash from their pockets.
They somehow contacted District Police Officer Awais Ahmad Malik who ordered the station house officer of the Alipur Police Station to take action. The police have registered the case but didn’t not arrest the suspects.
The Haseeb Waqas Sugar Mills was shifted from Nankana Sahib to Muzaffargarh illegally in 2015. After a year of its running, the mills was declared defaulter by the cane commissioner and labour department because of non-payments to the farmers. In 2017, the sugar mills was closed by the order of Supreme Court.
Hundreds of sugarcane farmers are waiting for their payments.
