THE prime minister has set a great precedent by making the sugar scam report public. After the report was released the burden of taking action lies on the relevant government organisations. However, to date we have seen no action.

In my opinion, the sugar scam report has made it clear that the sugar mills were under-reporting their profits and therefore were not in need of any subsidiary for export. Therefore, the first thing to do is to recover all the subsidies from the sugar mills that they have received in the past two decades.

Second, the mills should be asked to pay all their back taxes on undeclared production in one year installments using profits from their other businesses. Third, farmers who have still not been paid by the mills should be asked to register complaints with the cane commissioner.

Fourth, and most important: the government should ensure sugar is sold at the government set rate. Citizens who are forced to purchase the commodity at a higher rate should send online complaints with a picture of the shop receipt. Thereafter the errant establishment should be heavily fined and asked to supply receipt of their sugar distributor, who if found responsible should also be heavily fined by the authorities concerned.

To achieve these measures the government may have to create new regulations, then so be it, as the greater public good is the issue at stake here.

S. B. Khan

Peshawar

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2020