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Our Bureau

New Delhi , Jan. 26

THE Government has extended the validity period for sugar mills to dispose of their free sale quota (FSQ) allocated for January till February 18.

In normal circumstances, the mills would have had to offload their entire current month's FSQ in the open market by January 31. The unsold quantity would have been automatically converted into levy quota for the public distribution system, as per the announcement made by Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Mr Sharad Pawar, on January 6.

The clarification issued by the Directorate of Sugar in the Ministry that mills would be given time up to February 18 to exhaust their FSQ for January 2005 is expected to prevent desperate sales by mills towards the month-end. The Government had originally released a quantity of 12 lakh tonnes (lt) as the aggregate FSQ of mills for the current month. But in a fire-fighting exercise aimed at controlling the price spiral in the commodity, Mr Pawar announced an additional 2 lt of free sale sugar for the current month. Besides, he also made it clear that if any mill held on to its stocks and did not utilise its FSQ, the entire unutilised portion would have to be surrendered to the Government as levy sugar.

The latest decision, however, to extend the validity period for the January 2005 FSQ till February 18, since the notification giving effect to Mr Pawar's announcement came only on January 18. This in turn would have given factories very little time to utilise their entire 14 lt of FSQ for the current month.

"It is clarified that since the letter under reference was issued on January 18, 2005, the action stated therein would commence from 19 February, 2005. Accordingly, the free sale quota for January 2005 can be sold up to February 18.2.2005 without inviting the said stipulated action (conversion of FSQ to levy sugar) contained in the letter dated 17.1.2005," said a letter issued from Directorate of Sugar to sugar mills.

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