Kolhapur : Govt teams on Tuesday began inspecting godowns, malls and premises of bulk consumers in Maharashtra as part of a crackdown on alleged hoarding of sugar, even as wholesale prices showed slight signs of easing after weeks of steep increases.
Under the rules, bulk consumers requiring more than 10 tonnes of sugar a month cannot stock more than half of their monthly requirement. “Clear instructions have been issued that sugar sellers and suppliers must not hold stock for more than 15 days. To strictly monitor this, 15 special teams have been appointed in the district. “At the start of the last crushing season, there were about 48 lakh tonnes of sugar in stock and nearly 300 lakh tonnes were produced thereafter.
The inspections are being carried out by district supply departments to verify whether traders and bulk consumers are complying with stock limits prescribed by govt. Officials conducted inspections at malls and commercial establishments in cities including Solapur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. In one retail mall in Solapur city, authorities found stocks to be within the permitted limit. These squads can conduct surprise raids at any moment to inspect the stocks. Strict immediate action will be taken against those found with excess or illegal stock,” stated Solapur district supply officer Omkar Padole. Despite this, prices rose sharply. There is a strong possibility that large quantities of sugar were smuggled to neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh,” Shetti alleged.
He demanded a thorough inquiry into the factors behind the price surge and said growers should also benefit from higher sugar prices under the revenue-sharing formula. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Kolhapur | Silver Rate in Kolhapur | Bank Holidays in Kolhapur | Public Holidays in Kolhapur