No more hoarding: Align prices with govt rates, says Imran

Mumtaz Alvi/agencies

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday said low price of wheat and its uninterrupted availability was the top priority of the government and directed end to the hoarding of sugar and flour and their availability at the previous affordable rates.

The prime minister passed these directions while chairing a meeting here attended by Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam, Finance Adviser Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Adviser on Trade Abdul Razzaq Dawood, Special Assistant Dr Shahbaz Gill and senior officers.

Chief secretaries of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan and additional chief secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also participated in the meeting through a video link.

The forum reviewed measures to reduce food prices in the country. The prime minister said there should be no difficulty in the inter-provincial movement of wheat and directed all the provincial chief secretaries, headed by Minister for National Food Security Syed Fakhar Imam, to formulate a coherent and harmonious strategy on wheat and flour so that their prices would be uniform in all the provinces.

He also called for ensuring adequate stock as per requirement in each province and directed an effective action against sugar hoarding in the wake of the JIT report.

The prime minister directed that a zero tolerance policy be adopted against adulteration. He further directed that the focus of this strategy should be on farmers and ordinary citizens, as in the past the elements involved in profiteering and hoarding not only deprived the farmers of their legitimate profits, but also the common man of buying flour at subsidized rates.

The prime minister was informed that the Punjab government would release Rs35 billion worth of wheat on Tuesday (today) to end flour shortage and reduce the price of wheat and flour in stages.

Regarding the uninterrupted availability of wheat and flour at low prices to the people, the Punjab chief secretary told the participants that after the cabinet approval, the provincial government was releasing Rs35 billion worth of wheat from Tuesday.

This measure will not only end flour shortage, but also reduce the price of wheat and flour in stages.

The provincial chief secretaries presented a comparative review of the measures taken to bring down the prices of basic commodities. The participants were also briefed in detail on the coronavirus situation, essential medicines in the provinces, and ensuring an uninterrupted supply of oxygen.

Referring to the crackdown on the stockpiling of sugar and flour, the chief secretary Punjab apprised the meeting that so far 716 tonnes of flour and 16008.5 tonnes of sugar worth over Rs1 billion had been seized from major stockists and dealers.

The meeting was informed that as a result of steps taken by the administration and authorities concerned, the price of sugar was lowest in Punjab. Meanwhile, the members of the Punjab Assembly met Prime Minister Imran Khan here.

The delegation included Advisers to the Chief Minister Muhammad Hanif Khan Pitafi, Abdul Hai, Faisal Hayat Jabuna and Special Assistants to Chief Minister Syed Rafaqat Ali Gilani, Khurram Sohail Khan and Javed Akhtar Ansari.

The delegation briefed the prime minister on the corona situation in their respective constituencies and provision of relief to the victims and beneficiaries.

The delegation said the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme and the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the unemployed had provided significant assistance to the needy, for which they were deeply grateful to the government.

The delegation appreciated the prime minister’s policy of striking a balance between the life and employment.

The participants thanked the prime minister for taking practical steps towards fulfilling the promise of South Punjab and said in the past not only the aspirations of the people of South Punjab, but also the development needs of South Punjab were forgotten.

The participants also briefed the prime minister on the various needs of their constituencies.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday constituted the National Coordination Committee on Housing, Construction and Development to coordinate and facilitate the government policy objectives of promotion of construction and development related activities in the country.

The committee will especially focus on affordable housing projects for the low-income segments of the society, as envisaged in the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme (NPHP).

The committee will comprise Chairman Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority, secretaries or their representative (not below Grade 21) of the ministries of housing & works, planning, development & special initiative, finance, power, petroleum and Law & Justice Division, deputy governor State Bank of Pakistan, provincial chief secretaries including AJK and GB or their representatives (not below BS-20), chairman FBR or his representative (not below grade 21), chairman CDA, chief commissioner Islamabad Capital Territory and deputy chairman Naphda.

Chairman Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority will be the committee convener. The convener may co-opt any other person from public/private sector including heads of housing and development authorities, representatives/stakeholders from construction industry etc. as member, on required basis.

The Secretariat support to the committee shall be provided by Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority. The committee shall meet twice a week (every Tuesday and Friday); however, the convener may increase frequency of meetings on required basis.

The terms of reference (ToRs) of the committee include; (i) to assess the demand and supply situation of housing in general and affordable housing in particular; (ii) to periodically review the progress of different housing and construction related initiative in all the provinces/across the country; (iii) to identify impediments in the way of growth of housing and construction activities with concrete recommendations/ directions for their removal to relevant entities; (iv) to coordinate and issue instructions for redressal of grievances related to the housing and construction initiatives in the country including but not limited to various permissions, NOCs and provisions of utilities; (v) to make required decisions and issue instructions to the relevant ministries/ divisions/departments and organizations and monitor progress/implementation; (vi) to monitor and facilitate timely processing and approvals of housing, construction and development projects; and (vii) to act as focal point for inter-province, inter-ministerial, inter-department and inter-agency coordination for all housing , construction and development related policies and initiatives across the country.

The convener shall brief the prime minister twice a week on impediments, recommendations for improvement and overall progress in implementation of prime minister’s policy guidelines. Meanwhile, Pakistan and China Monday signed an agreement for construction of $1.5 billion Azad Pattan Hydel Power Project.

Prime Minister Imran Khan witnessed the signing ceremony. Speaking on the occasion, Imran said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project would prove to be a milestone in the country’s development and prosperity. “The CPEC is the future of Pakistan.”

The premier said time would prove the long-term benefits of the CPEC project, which was based upon economic cooperation. He said Pakistan could learn a lot from China in realms of economic progress and prosperity, as it was the fast emerging as world economic power.

He expressed optimism that in future, they would learn from the Chinese experiences. “The CPEC had different phases with various bright aspects for prosperity and progress,” he added.

Referring to the signing of the agreement, Imran said it was part of the investment to complete a power project based upon the clean energy. Unlike past, the project would not burden the people, he said and mentioned the previous governments’ costly projects, which were made functional with imported fuel, thus increasing the cost of energy manifold and stressing the local currency.

Imran said due to those policies, the power industry ran into losses affecting the consumers. He regretted that the country could not compete with its neighbouring countries in terms of generating the low-cost energy. He said hydropower generation was considered as a big source of clean energy, which was also in line with his government’s policy of ‘Clean and Green Pakistan’ and regarded as environment friendly.

Speaking on the occasion, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Lt. Gen (R) Asim Saleem Bajwa Monday said despite prevailing situation of COVID-19 in the country, the mega project of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was moving forward with full force and more projects would be signed in near future.

Addressing the signing ceremony of Azad Pattan Hydel Power Project, Bajwa, who also heads the CPEC Authority, said the project would not only produce 701MW clean and low-cost electricity, but would also attract $1.5 billion foreign investment besides providing over 3,000 jobs.

“In only 10 days, we have signed agreements that will bring $4 billion investment and produce 1,800MW clean and cheap electricity. These projects will also help produce over 8,000 jobs,” he added.

He said according to vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the country was moving forward to produce clean and cheaper electricity instead of utilizing the expensive imported fuel. He said under the PM’s vision, new projects were bringing billions of dollars of foreign investment instead of putting burden of loans on the government.

Meanwhile, the prime minister visited the National Radio and Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) to inaugurate a production facility that manufactures Pakistan’s first-ever indigenously developed ventilators.

He was accompanied by Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry, Energy Minister Omar Ayub, Focal Person on Coronavirus Dr Faisal Sultan, National Disaster Management Authority Chairperson Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal, and other senior officers.

Imran commended the initiative taken by the NRTC and the Ministry of Science & Technology for the first ever indigenously produced ventilator,” according to an update from the Prime Minister’s Office on Twitter.