Shillong, August 08: The Joint Secretary to the Government of India Mr T Jacon has informed to all state and union territory in the country on the 17th May that distribution of levy sugar through Public Distribution System has been abolished.
To continued with the scheme it all depend on the state government and the government of India ministry food and civil supplies will reimburse Rs. 18,50 rupees per KG if that state government continued with scheme by purchase levy sugar from open market and sale to the consumer at the cost of Rs. 13.50 rupees only.
Before taking these decision the Central Government had constituted a Committee under Dr. C. Rangarajan,Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister to look into all aspects related tothe regulations in the sugar sector. The Report of the Committee was examined in consultationwith the State Governments/UT Administrations and other concerned Ministries.
The Central Government has since considered the recommendations of the Committee and decided to remove the levy obligation on sugar mills and the regulated release mechanism.With the abolition of levy, the current system of allocation of levy sugar from sugar mills to the States for meeting the requirements for the PDS will no longer be in existence. TheStates and union territory will need to devise a transparent system for procurement of sugar from the open market.
As levy sugar allocations have been made to cover PDS requirements for the months upto May 2013, it is imperative that the States take immediate action for procurement of futurerequirements.
The Government of India would provide subsidy @18.50 per kg for the existingallocation to those States which continue to have the Retail Issue Price of Rs.13.50 per kg at FPSlevel for the Financial Years 2013-14 and 2014-15. It is again clarified that the reimbursementby the Central Government will be limited to the quantity based on the existing level ofallocations.
In this regard, the Central Government has formulated the Guidelines for reimbursementof sugar subsidy to States and Union Territory for distribution of sugar under Public Distribution System (PDS) from 1st June, 2013. The allocation for the state of Meghalaya monthly is 1704 Metrik tome and annually is 20648 Metrik Tone.(SP News)
