Agriculture minister reassures House about govt action on farmers’ concerns. PHOTO: APP
Though there is frustration among farmers over the agriculture policy, the situation is not as dire as portrayed by the Opposition. The provincial minister of agriculture said while concluding the debate on agriculture policy in the Provincial Assembly on Thursday.
The session started with a three-hour delay. The House passed one of the two bills on the agenda. The Punjab Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Amendment) Bill was passed but the House failed to take up the Punjab Forests (Amendment) Bill as well as the amendments to its own Rules of Procedure which had been on the agenda for the day.
The session was chaired by Deputy Speaker Sardar Sher Ali Gorchani. The two-day debate on agriculture which had not concluded on Wednesday owing to thin attendance was finally wrapped up by Agriculture Minister Farrukh Javed who gave a point-by-point response to concerns raised by lawmakers in the previous session.
“I can’t say I will present a rosy picture but it is unfair to suggest that the situation is as hopeless as has been portrayed by some of our friends,” he said.
He said lack of commitment to government’s policies, the energy crisis and global food prices were only a few of the factors which had affected the agriculture sector.
He dismissed criticism of Indian imports, saying the same argument could be made about Pakistani exports to India.
“If billions of rupees is spent on tomato imports, billions of rupees is spent by Indian on purchase of onions exported from here,” he said.
The minister said the balance of trade was working in favour of Pakistan, adding that the government had enhanced duty on wheat imports.
The minister said it was incorrect to assume that there were no subsidies for farmers. He said the government had provided subsidies in electricity, fuel and agriculture equipment.
“There is a 50 per cent subsidy on tractors,” he said. “For the last three years, a 50 per cent subsidy is also being provided on laser levellers in every district. Of the Rs550,000 cost of a laser leveller, farmers now pay only Rs100,000,” he said.
Commenting on agricultural inputs, he said the department had always maintained that these should not be taxed for farmers.
He said sales tax on fertilisers had been lowered from 17 per cent to 7 per cent. He said tax for agriculture machines had dropped to 9 per cent from 43 per cent.
He said the World Bank had been facilitating farmers in a water supply project for the past three years. He said Potohar was now home to valleys of grapes and olives.
He said he supported the demand for raising the income tax exemption ceiling for farmers and bringing it at par with Rs400,000 for industries. He also reassured the House that legal proceedings were being initiated against sugar mills that had failed to make payments to farmers.
He also defended the Prime Minister’s Kissan Package, saying it was unprecedented.
Absence of the Opposition members at the concluding session was criticised by the chair as well as by the Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Culture Rana Muhammad Arshad.
Less than 40 members from the treasury benches attended Thursday’s session.
During the question hour, Minister for Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Tanveer Aslam Malik was grilled over the department’s failure to ensure sewerage facilities and delays in inquiries against WASA officials since 2012.
The minister said the delay was partially because both the person under inquiry and the one conducting the inquiry had retired. The opposition rose to its feet in agitation when the minister said that a water supply scheme from the year 2011-2012 for Mianwali worth Rs4.33 million was not functioning due to low voltage in the area. The speaker instructed an inquiry into the matter and said that it should made functional at the earliest.
Two bills are on the agenda for the session on Friday (today).
Published in The Express Tribune, February 12th, 2016.
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