5713-qtl seized sugar released for sale

By Our Staff Reporter
Bhopal, Mar 5:
Food Minister Paras Jain replied to questions by Leader of Opposition in the Assembly that the government had seized last year 59211 quintals of sugar from traders to put a stop to black marketing, hoarding and profiteering. Out of this the district collectors released 16859 quintals of sugar and 5713 quintals of sugar was made available to sell at prescribed rates. The government had seized maximum 14526 quintals from Bhind, 6320 quintals from Morena, 8565 quintals from Indore, 3518 quintals from Gwalior, 1758 quintals from Ratlam, 4750 quintals from Sehore, 7166 quintals from Raisen, and 1792 quintals from Jabalpur. The quantity of sugar seized from other districts is negligent, the minister said in his reply.

Sugar from Brazil
The minister informed that the MP Civil Supplies Corporation is in the process of importing 50000 metric tones of refined white sugar from Brazil. When the sugar reaches the state it would be sold at the rate of Rs 27.50 pr kg, he said.

LPG cylinder crisis
Jamuna Devi asked the minister if the LPG cylinder crisis in the state is due to less supply or artificially created. To this question the minister said that during the months of December 2009 and January 2010 the oil companies supplied up to 20 per cent more cylinders compared to the corresponding period last year. At the same time the number of consumers increased by 5 per cent.
He said that there is no situation of backlog in Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum Corporations. Only in the bordering districts there is a minor shortage of supply of cylinders to dealers of Indian Oil Corporation. The reason for this is that the cylinders are supplied to these districts from filling plants outside the state.
Jain informed Jamuna Devi that information regarding number of vehicles run by gas kit is yet to receive from the transport department. He also replied that the government has received no complaint about the pumps supplying gas are filling less gas and hence the vehicle drivers are forced to use domestic LPG cylinders. The minister said that there is no provision for the vehicles using gas to register names in the food and civil supplies department.