LAHORE:Senior & Punjab Food Minister Abdul Aleem Khan has asked the Sindh government to give up its indifference, show mercy to people and provide wheat to mills at subsidised rates on the line of Punjab and KP.
Addressing a Press conference here Monday, Aleem Khan said that wheat supply at low rates should be started in Sindh so that the gap in flour prices could be bridged. He said that after supply of government wheat to flour mills at low rates across Punjab, a 20kg bag of flour was available at Rs860 but when it crossed Rahim Yar Khan and entered Sindh it was sold at more than Rs1,200. He said that according to the Constitution of Pakistan, no province could stop the inter-provincial transportation of wheat or flour, so Punjab has had to bear this burden.
Aleem Khan said that Sindh had huge reserves of wheat, while flour mills were not getting subsidised wheat due to the government’s negligence, while Punjab had been spending billions of rupees in this regard, and after the instructions of Prime Minister Imran Khan, wheat supply to the mills in KP had also started on subsidy, but the transfer of the same wheat and flour to Sindh had been creating problems.
The minister appealed to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to immediately intervene in the matter and ensure wheat supply to mills at low rates and decrease the flour price at Punjab level. He insisted that if Punjab and KP could provide cheap flour then the Sindh government could also do so.
Aleem Khan stated that 17,000 ton wheat was being supplied to mills in Punjab daily which had been increased to 32,000 tons during Eid days. He mentioned that they had 10 months stock and Insha Allah wheat import would be started before December in which Punjab’s share would be 7 to 8 lakh tons. He said that so far orders had been issued to import 4.44 lakh tons of wheat. Punjab is to extend cooperation for the people of other provinces but those provinces have yet to show responsibility themselves. He clarified that flour was being supplied at low rates and a 20kg bag was available in abundance everywhere in Punjab at Rs860 and apart from the food department the Urban Unit had also been monitoring the process. The deputy commissioner takes immediate action wherever there is a complaint.
Aleem Khan hinted at a change in the method of subsidy on flour in Punjab and said that work on it had already started and a new strategy would be devised in the next few months under which only deserving people would be given low rates atta, which, in turn, would make the Rs860 bag more cheap and help for this targeted subsidy can be availed from the data taken from Ehsas Programme. He clarified that the atta at Chakkis was according to the market rate as wheat was not provided there at the official rates.
To a question, Aleem Khan said that wheat production had been reduced in Upper Punjab due to rains and other factors. The Punjab government did not provide wheat to non-functional flour mills this year at subsidised rate while the food department has completed procurement of more than 4 million metric tons of wheat, which is a record, and in this process the farmers were paid in one day, while there was no difficulty in the provision of bardana. He vowed that such efforts would be continued to improve the food department as per the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan and major changes would be brought in the coming days.