The Cabinet Committee on Institutional Reforms (CCIR) has decided to retain the sugar advisory board under the Ministry of Industries and Production (MoIP).
According to ministry officials, CCIR has deferred the summary moved by MoIP to transfer SAB from industries to food security or commerce ministry. Sources claimed that during the last meeting of the CCIR, the Ministry of Food Security and the Ministry of Commerce opposed the summary.
After the denial from the Ministry of Food Security and Research and the Ministry of Commerce, the CCIR decided to defer the summary. MoIP officials say that the Minister for Industries and Production, Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, is not participating in the meetings of Sugar Advisory Board meeting. The Federal Secretary for Industries and Production is chairing the meetings, whereas Commerce and Food Security ministers participate in the meeting.
Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, in April 2021, soon after assuming the charge, wrote a letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, demanding to give the charge of Sugar Advisory Board (SAB) to some other ministry to avoid conflict of interest.
Prime Minister Imran Khan agreed to his request and asked the minister to move the summary in consultation with the stakeholders concerned. Ministry moved the summary for the transfer of the SAB board, but after seven to eight months, it was deferred, and CCIR decided to retain SAB under MoIP.
Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar’s family has stakes in the Rahim Yar Khan Group that owns five sugar mills. According to the sugar inquiry commission report, the RYK group availed 14.19 percent of the total export subsidy amounting to Rs. 4.14 billion. FIA sugar inquiry report criticized the role of the SAB to control sugar prices.
