Aleem Khan orders supply to seed companies

LAHORE:Punjab Senior Food Minister Abdul Aleem Khan has directed authorities concerned to ensure supply of wheat to seed companies in the province.

He was chairing a meeting of four important departments. The departments of food, agriculture, irrigation and livestock should be on one page for which the secretaries of these four departments would evolve joint strategy, he said. A working group has been formed which will formulate recommendations for short and long-term policy to make the province self-sufficient in the food sector.

Abdul Aleem Khan directed the seed companies in the province to take immediate steps for the provision of wheat and reiterated that the Punjab Food Department would assist the seed companies in supplying wheat to them in addition to its target for procurement of wheat. Similarly, leniency will be exercised for flour mills so that maximum quantity of wheat can be sold at good prices and on time by the farmers.

Agriculture Minister Malik Noman Langarial and Irrigation Minister Sardar Mohsin Leghari appreciated the proposal made by Aleem Khan to improve the working relationship between the four departments. Similarly, Minister for Consolidation Syed Samsam Ali Bukhari and Minister for Livestock Sardar Hasnain Bahadur Dareshak welcomed the better coordination among the four departments for the production target of the province.

In addition to fully involving district machinery, food department staff and civil investigation agencies, the Punjab government has mobilised staff of government schools for seizing wheat from private parties with a view to achieving procurement target. The senior staff of public sector schools has been asked to find more than 20 maund stored wheat from their respective localities. They have been instructed to sensitize people about promulgation of Prevention of Hoarding Ordinance, 2020. The involvement of headmasters of educational institutions has been in addition to deputing government school teachers at procurement centres for data entry tasks.

Moreover, special branch and other law enforcing agencies have also been pressed into service to locate stored or illegal transportation of wheat across the province. It has been portrayed that movement of grain from one district to another within Punjab province is a form of smuggling, which should be dealt accordingly.

Punjab has so far achieved about 2.20 million tonnes or nearly 50 percent of its wheat procurement targets. The provincial government has termed wheat hoarding an important issue and vowed to take action against anyone found guilty of artificially creating a shortage of wheat or flour.

Furthermore, provincial food department removed District Food Controller, Dera Ghazi Khan, hometown of the chief minister on alleged malpractices and slow wheat procurement. The DFC has allegedly showed callous behaviour in running procurement centre under his watch. It is pertinent to mention that DG Khan District has said to be low achiever as food department staff managed to buy lowest volume of wheat in proportion of harvested grain among other districts of the division.