CM criticises caretaker govt for importing wheat during harvesting season

HYDERABAD/SUKKUR: The Sindh food department has procured 600,000 tonnes of the targeted 900,000 tonnes of wheat produced in the province and the remaining wheat was being procured from the areas where growers had been missed out.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said this on Wednesday as he spoke in Nawabshah at a consultative meeting of elected representatives and workers of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) belonging to the Shaheed Benazirabad division.

Criticising the caretaker government’s decision of wheat import, he said importing wheat was a bad decision when the local crop was being harvested. The decision to import wheat caused loss to local growers, he added.

The problem of wheat procurement aggravated when the wheat imported by the caretaker federal government started arriving at the port, he remarked. Talking about wheat procurement in Sindh, Murad said the provincial food department had 400,000 tonnes of wheat in its godowns, and only 900,000 tonnes were required to meet the provincial requirement, due to which the government set the procurement target of 900,000 tonnes.

He added that so far, 600,000 tonnes of wheat had been procured, and the remaining 300,000 tonnes would be procured from the areas from where complaints regarding distribution of bardana had been received.

The CM said that after receiving the complaints of unfair distribution of bardana for wheat procurement, he had ordered an inquiry into the complaints that was being carried out by Sindh Irrigation and Food Minister Jam Khan Shoro.

According to Murad, four district food controllers (DFCs) had so far been suspended in connection with the inquiry.

Law and order

Later, holding a press conference with his cabinet members in Nawabshah, the CM discussed the wheat issue as well as the law and order situation in Sindh.

He said that after assuming his office as the chief minister, he held the first meeting on law and order. He added that recently, President Asif Ali Zardari also chaired in Karachi an important meeting on law and order.

Murad said he supported the Punjab police in their operation in which bandits were killed. He explained that the formalities for the procurement of modern weapons for the Sindh police had been completed.

He regretted that the killers of the journalist Jan Muhammad Mahar had been arrested, however, he assured the media that the Sindh home minister had been working on the case and the killers and their facilitators would be soon arrested.

The CM said the law and order situation in the province had been improving and the cases of kidnapping for ransom were on the decline. Regarding the wheat import, the CM said those who took the decision to import wheat benefited themselves instead of growers. Murad also said that the PPP was not part of the federal government but it was supporting the federal government.

Mirpurkhas meeting

Later, the CM addressed PPP workers of the Mirpurkhas division in Mirpurkhas where he said that the promises made by PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to the people of Sindh would be fulfilled in letter and spirit.

He said the Sindh government was committed to eradicating poverty, ushering in new vistas of development, and creating job opportunities to bring in prosperity in the province.

PPP workers from Tharparkar told the chief minister that several reverse osmosis (RO) plants in Thar were dysfunctional, to which Murad said he had planned a scheme to repair all the out-of-order RO plants in Thar.

Party workers of Sindhri tehsil complained against the completion and remodelling of LBOD starting that it had been flooding the areas of Jhudo and Sindhri. It was also pointed out that Sindhri needed a drainage system so that rain and saline water could be disposed of.

The CM agreed that there were problems with LBOD. He said his government had been working to resolve those issues. PPP workers from Thar also proposed the construction of more check dams in the desert region so that water could be accumulated for agriculture.

They pointed out that more than 70 check dams constructed in Thar had irrigated water-starved lands where onions and other crops were being cultivated. These dams had brought prosperity in the region, they said.

The CM directed the irrigation minister to survey the area where check dams could be built. People also demanded lining of Jumrao and Mithrao canals to save water and control water logging. The CM was requested to order desilting of Nara Canal along with removing its barriers to improve its flow so that small growers could receive water to irrigate their lands.

The CM said a drainage project for Sindhri had been worked out and it would be carried out soon with the help of the World Bank. The meetings were attended by Sindh PPP President Nisar Khuhro, Senior Sindh Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, Shoro, Sindh PPP General Secretary Waqar Mehdi and others.