A crackdown against sugar hoarders has been kicked off across Punjab following the Lahore High Court's (LHC) ruling, setting sugar price at Rs 40 per kg, as the provincial administration has deployed heavy police contingents at sugar mills and seized two million bags of sugar.
The Punjab government had commenced raids on sugar mills across the province in order to ensure implementation of the LHC verdict, sources said. According to the sources, hundreds of thousands of maunds sugar had been seized from warehouses of five sugar mills in Rahimyar Khan, 2 mills each in Kot Adu (Muzaffargarh), Sadiqabad and Nankana Sahib, whereas one sugar mill each in Bhawalpur, Bhawalnagar, Rajanpur, Pattuki and Mandi Bahauddin.
DCO Rajanpur said 2,92,780 sugar pouches had been seized from Rajanpur's sugar mills and police had been deployed at the mills, whereas DDO Revenue Kotadu said more than 400,000 sugar bags were recovered from two sugar mills, Sheikhu Sugar Mill and Fatim Sugar Mill, in Sanawan in tehsil Kotadu.
Similarly, 2,91,305 sugar pouches were recovered from Phalia Sugar Mill and 3,50,000 sugar sacks from Pattoki Sugar Mill. Police had been deployed at most of the sugar mills throughout the province to prevent sugar hoarding, sources said.