The sugar industry has urged the Government to accept and implement the recommendations of the Rangarajan Committee, which has suggested de-control of the sector.
The two major industry bodies — The Indian Sugar Mills’ Association (ISMA) and the National Federation of Co-operative Sugar Factories Ltd (NFCSF) — were unanimous in urging the Government to abolish the regulated release mechanism and remove the system of levy with immediate effect.
“We urge the Government to withdraw the release mechanism and levy system immediately,” said Jayantilal Patel, President, NFCSF, supporting the recommendations of the Rangarajan Committee.
Sugar is a regulated sector in the country and the Government decides on the quantity of the sweetener to be sold by the mills in the market. Besides, the mills are obligated to sell 10 per cent of the sugar as levy sales at a cheaper rate to the Government for sale in the public distribution system.
The removal of levy obligation will benefit the industry to the extent of Rs 3,000 crore annually, said Gautam Goel, President, ISMA. “It is time that the Government remove the archaic controls that the industry is burdened with,” he said.
Besides removing Government controls, the Rangarajan Committee has suggested doing away with the cane reservation area and linking the price of sugarcane to the revenue realised by the mills from the sale of sugar and first-stage by-product. It had also suggested removal of the minimum distance between two sugar mills and exempt the industry from the compulsory packaging order under the Jute Packaging and Marking Act, 1987.
Food Minister K.V. Thomas recently said the Government was considering the Rangarajan Committee recommendations and would take a decision on removing some of the curbs by next month.