To expand the base of cooperative sector institutions of Punjab, the State Government on Saturday offered to supply the sugar produced in its cooperative mills to the Himachal Pradesh Government.
The offer was made by Punjab Cooperation Minister, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa during his meeting with the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Jairam Thakur at Himachal Bhawan here. The Cooperation Minister said that the initiative would drastically reduce the transportation cost for supplying sugar to Himachal from cooperative mills of Punjab as Punjab is the neighbouring State of Himachal Pradesh.
Thakur directed the Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies Department, Himachal Pradesh to work on the proposal. He also suggested to Randhawa to submit a comprehensive proposal courtesy Sugarfed mentioning the financial aspects. He also said that the Himachal Pradesh Government would actively consider every point of the proposal and then arrive at a conclusion.
Randhawa said the cooperative sugar mills of Punjab produce 20 lakh quintal of top quality sugar annually, adding that the state has the capacity to meet the demand for sugar which is distributed in Himachal through Public Distribution System (PDS).
The Punjab minister said that many sugar mills of Punjab such as the ones at Gurdaspur, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Morinda are situated close to the Himachal Pradesh border. Also, Punjab is nearest to Himachal for supplying sugar. Randhawa also presented samples of Jaggery, Sugar produced by the cooperative sugar mills of Punjab besides the products manufactured by Markfed and Milkfed.