Shahbaz Sharif urges govt to announce agri policy soon

LAHORE: PML-N president and Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif demanded the government to immediately announce agricultural policy ahead of wheat harvesting in the wake of Covid-19 threat.

“In the agricultural policy, the government must protect the interests of small farmers while taking into account the measures to save the people from coronavirus,” he said, while holding a meeting on agriculture here Tuesday.

Shahbaz urged the party to prepare recommendations with regard to wheat harvest, supply of wheat from farm to market and government’s wheat support price to help the farmers in the coming days of wheat harvesting season.

As the PML-N has prepared its recommendations in consultation with medical experts, economists, businessmen and traders, he said that in the same way the party was holding consultations with party leaders, agriculturists and farming community to prepare recommendations for government to implement its policy in the best interest of farmers and country’s economy.

He said the PML-N had always given top priority to agriculture and farmers’ community. During PML-N’s tenure, Shahbaz said the government, under the leadership of the then premier Nawaz Sharif, announced historic Kissan package. Under this package, he said, the government provided electricity at low tariff, fertilizers at half prices and concession on diesel-run tube-wells.

In Punjab, he said the government had provided interest-free loans to small land holders, which helped double the production of crops in the province. “The government not just made it easier for farmers to obtain loans but also waived the fee charges on acquisition of these loans, which boosted the agricultural economy in the province,” he added.

Meanwhile, in a statement, PML-N Punjab spokesperson Azma Bukhari demanded NAB chairman to take notice of the wheat and sugar ‘robbery’, which was established in the FIA inquiry report. However, she termed its beyond comprehension to award clean chit to Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, who chaired the cabinet meeting to grant subsidy to Jehangir Tareen, Khusro Bakhtiar and allied parties as a reward for helping the PTI form government at the Centre and Punjab.

On Shahbaz’s direction, PML-N Deputy Secretary General Attaullah Tarar and Azma Bukhari distributed protective gear among journalists at the Lahore Press Club. They presented protective kits, masks, soaps and sanitizers to the journalists, saying that the government was not playing its role to properly equip the front-line ‘soldiers’ including the doctors, law-enforcement forces and journalists in the fight against virus in the country.