Barnala who was addressing a press conference on the conclusion of the state food ministers' conference in Capital on Thursday also stated that state governments were unanimous in their opinion that the supply of sugar through public distribution system should not be discontinued and the states allocation of sugar for PDS should be enhanced as the allocations were based on 1991 census figures. Some states also demanded additional allocations during festive seasons. The incentives to new units and units undergoing expansion should be continued.

He stated that the government will not resort to import of sugar to meet the the current levy shortfall of 13 lakh tonne. It would rather prefer to purchase sugar from the domestic industry.

Barnala stated that keeping in view therecommendations of the Mahajan Committee and the suggestions made by the states, he would soon initiate an inter-ministerial meeting of food, agriculture, finance and commerce to sort out the issue.

However, the general consensus at the meeting was in favour of setting up of a Sugarcane Pricing Board as recommended by the Mahajan Committee, early payment of cane arrears, measures for welfare of farmers and industry and increasing productivity and production of cane and sugar.

The cane arrears has, however, declined to 11 per cent in the current year as compared to 21.6 per cent in the previous year noted, Barnala.Earlier in his inaugural address, Barnala stressed the need for producing sugarcanes with high sugar content for boosting sugar production and avoiding possible imports. Sugar production in the country has already declined after it had reached a peak of 164 lakh tonne in 1995-96. In 1997-98 3.3 lakh tonne of sugar was imported under open general licence (OGL) and in the current fiscal year tilldate about 1.5 lakh tonne of sugar was imported under OGL.

Amongst the states, West Bengal government was bitter in its criticism of the Mahajan Committee report and stated that the recommendations were pro-industry and anti-people. It stated that the report should be rejected and shelved.