By IANS,
Bhopal : Sugar prices have declined in the wholesale market in Madhya Pradesh after the government raided sugar mills and godowns across the state and seized around 2,000 tonnes of hoarded sugar in the last four days.
“The wholesale price which was Rs.3,300 per quintal till Monday came down to the range of Rs.2,850 and Rs.2,950 and is likely to fall further,” Karamchandani, a wholesaler here, told IANS.
However, despite ease in wholesale prices, consumers still have to pay Rs.31 to Rs.32 for a kilogram sugar.
The Bhopal Wholesale Sugar Traders Association officials said they did not have any control over the retail price of the commodity.
“The association has decided to sell sugar to retailers at a fixed price. We don’t have any control over retailers,” Anupam Agarwal, a spokesman of the association, told IANS.
Food and civil supplies officials seized around 168.6 tonnes of hoarded sugar worth Rs.50 lakh from five godowns in Shivpuri district late Monday and all godowns were subsequently sealed.
Raids were also conducted in Bhopal, Jabalpur and Indore.
“Those who are trying to take advantage of the situation and indulging in black marketing and hoarding will not be spared,” Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan said.
Earlier, the officials seized 400 tonnes of sugar worth Rs.1 crore from three warehouses in Morena, while 820 tonnes worth Rs.2.5 crore were seized at godowns of transporters in Indore and Gwalior.
Meanwhile, the district food controller has issued 47 licenses since Monday to sugar traders in Bhopal. It is mandatory for any trader keeping sugar stocks of more than 20 quintals to have a license.