MULTAN City News

Rs 130b allocated for procurement

of 4m metric ton wheat in province

From Our Correspondent

MULTAN: The Punjab government has allocated Rs 130 billion for procurement of more than 4 million metric ton wheat in the province.

Talking to The News here on Saturday, Punjab Agriculture Information Assistant Director Naveed Asmat said that wheat would be procured at Rs 1,300 per maund. He said that the government had decided to procure wheat at the union council level. The wheat procurement would begin from April 20 while distribution of gunny bags (bardana) among the famers would begin from April 15, he added. He said that 504,000 metric ton wheat would be procured in Faisalabad division, 746,000 metric ton in Bahawalpur division, 673,000 metric ton in Multan division, 485,000 metric ton in Sahiwal division, 474,000 metric ton in Dera Ghazi Khan division, 432,000 metric ton in Gujranwala division, 342,000 metric ton in Sargodha division, 339,000 metric ton in Lahore division and 5,000 metric ton in Rawalpindi division. The agriculture officer said that agriculture was the backbone of the national economy, therefore, a comprehensive strategy had been evolved to strengthen the growers’ interests. He said that the government had decided to protect the cultivators’ interests at all levels. He said that as many as 376 wheat procurement centres had been set up across the Punjab. The government had enhanced the wheat bag quota from eight bags per acre to 10 bags per acre and they would be provided through a transparent process, he added. He said that the government had revised the wheat bags delivery charges from Rs 7.5 to Rs 9 on delivery of 100kg wheat. The wheat sacks would be issued on first come, first serve basis with priority to small growers, he added. Naveed Asmat said that the growers would receive payments from branches of all banks in the province and the government had issued instructions to the banks’ chiefs in this regard. He said that the farmers’ representatives would remain present at the wheat procurement centres to ensure computerised registration of wheat growers.

The first five days had been reserved for registration of small growers having 12.5 acres land, he said, adding that lists of Mauzas had been displayed at the tehsil offices, union council offices and wheat procurement centres. He said that the government was taking steps to end the role of the middlemen in the wheat procurement process. He said that the middleman would not be able to participate in the wheat procurement process. The Punjab government had set up complaint cells at the provincial, divisional, district and tehsil levels, he added. He said that any complaint regarding procurement of wheat would immediately be addressed.

He said that the government had introduced effective monitoring system for ensuring transparency in the wheat procurement process. He said that wheat would be procured from small cultivators on priority basis and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif would personally supervise the campaign.