Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Thursday opposed the Centre’s decision to withdraw the levy sugar obligation on sugar mills and to decontrol the regulated release mechanism as these moves would have an adverse impact on the welfare of the poor, who depend fully on the public distribution system for sugar.
She urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to continue with the existing levy system of sugar in the interest of the public or to guarantee that the difference between the open market price of sugar and issue price in PDS would be borne as subsidy by the Centre and continue the subsidy beyond 2014-15 as well. “I would like to register my strong protest against this decision taken by the Government of India as it will adversely impact the supply of sugar through the PDS and hence the welfare of the poor in the long run,” the Chief Minister pointed out in a letter to Singh.
At present, she said, levy sugar released to Tamil Nadu by the Centre was only 10,835 MT per month which meets only one third of the total requirement for distribution under the PDS. Recalling that the State is already incurring heavy expenditure towards providing subsidy for the supply of sugar through the PDS, she said under the new dispensation, the Centre would provide a subsidy of Rs 18.50 per kg only for the quantity committed under levy, but to be procured in the open market, with a rider to retain the retail price of Rs 13.50 per kg at Fair Price Shop levels.
As per the communication received, this subsidy by the Centre would be available only for the financial years 2013-14 and 2014-15, adding that this sudden withdrawal of levy obligation on sugar mills would expose the supply of PDS sugar to the vagaries of the market and the resultant volatility.
