FAISALABAD City News

‘Every grain of wheat to be purchased from farmers’
From Our Correspondent
FAISALABAD: Punjab Minister for Labour and Human Resources Raja Ishfaq Sarwar on Friday inaugurated wheat harvesting at Chak 6/JB, on Sargodha Road.
MPAs Ch Zafar Iqbal, Ch Faqir Hussain Dogar, DCO Noorul Amin Mengal, EDO Agriculture Dr Ishtiaq Hassan and other Agriculture Department officers were also present on the occasion. Addressing the inaugural function, the minister said that all administrative machinery had been mobilised by the Punjab CM for monitoring wheat procurement campaign, adding that all farmers would be provided all possible facilities at the wheat procurement centres. He said that the rights of small farmers would be protected and no one would be allowed to exploit the wheat growers. He said that the Punjab CM had announced to purchase 4 million metric tons wheat across the Punjab despite having a large stock of wheat of previous year. The minister assured that every grain of wheat would be purchased from the farmers. He said that the government was following the revolutionary policies for the prosperity and welfare of the tillers and equal attention was given on the development of rural areas. He said that the Khadim-e-Punjab Rural Roads Programme was a revolutionary step of the Punjab government under which Rs 15 billion funds were being spent on the construction of durable and beautiful rural roads. MPA Zafar Iqbal thanked the minister and said that the wheat procurement campaign would be made successful. DCO Noorul Amin Mengal informed that the target of 149,000 metric tons wheat had been fixed to purchase in the district and all necessary arrangements had been made at the wheat procurement centres. Meanwhile, the minister also visited Chiniot and presided over a meeting at the DCO office. He reviewed the arrangements made by the Food Department at the wheat procurement centres. He directed that the farmers should be provided all-out facilities during the process of wheat procurement. He warned that no negligence and lethargy would be tolerated and the corrupt staff would be dealt with iron hands to ensure transparency in wheat procurement campaign. The minister was informed that 58,000 metric tons wheat would be purchased in the district for which five procurement centres had been established equipped with necessary facilities. DCO Shaukat Khichi said that the wheat procurement campaign would be supervised by keeping constant interaction with the wheat growers.