With sugar prices doubling in last one year, a Parliamentary panel today suggested that the government should draw out a long-term plan to contain the rising price trend of the sweetener.
"The Department of Food and Public Distribution should draw a long-term plan to meet the situation of rising trend of sugar before it goes out of hands to unbearable proportions," the Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affair and Public Distribution (for the Ministry) said in its report presented in the Lok Sabha today.
It also 'strongly' recommended the government to enhance vigilance machinery to prevent hoarding and black-marketing of sugar across the country.
The report on demands for grants for 2009-10, which expressed concern over high sugar prices, pulled up the government for its failure to bring down sugar rates amid production slump.
Sugar prices have increased by 100 per cent to Rs 40 a kg in four metros in November, this year from Rs 20 a kg in the same period last year, it noted.
The panel, headed by Vilas Muttemwar, observed that the government could have prevented the current situation if it could have framed a policy to provide adequate minimum support price to sugarcane growers and obviated farmers shifting to other crops.
"The committee deplore this lack of farsightedness on the part of the government," he said.
Though the government has taken steps to augment supplies by allowing duty-free import of sugar and banning futures trade, but "all measures will be a futile exercise if these are not implemented in letter and spirit," the panel noted.
The report pointed out that sugar production, which was more than consumption level in 2006-08 season has gone down suddenly in 2008-09 season (October-September) due to wrong policy of the government which failed to provide adequate MSP to cane growers.
Sugar output declined to 15 million tonnes in the last season from 26.4 million tonnes in 2007-08. This year too, output is expected to be down at 16 million tonnes, while the country's annual demand is about 23 million tonnes.
The panel desired that "henceforth, the loan for cane development should be given directly to the farmers through panchayats and not through sugar mills, so that farmers are benefited with the various schemes initiative the the government to raise production of sugarcane."
It further suggested the government to make efforts to get timely approval of the plan schemes to ensure full use of funds earmarked for 2009-10. Of Rs 65 crore allocated for the current fiscal, ministry could utilise only Rs 45.05 crore.
It also asked the government to soon clear the proposed Food Security legislation and introduce the bill during the next session of Parliament.
