The federal government on Thursday approved funds of Rs3 billion for relief operations in the flood-affected areas and changed the local and imported wheat mixing ratio to improve the quality of wheat flour being sold at state-owned utility stores.
The decisions were made by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet that met under the chairmanship of Finance Minister Miftah Ismail.
The ECC allowed import of 300,000 tons of urea under a government-to-government deal to meet the upcoming sowing requirements.
It approved funds of Rs3 billion for the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to meet its growing expenditure on account of procurements for the rescue, relief and rehabilitation of calamity-stricken population across Pakistan, stated the Ministry of Finance.
NDMA briefed the meeting that in the aftermath of devastation caused by floods across the country, millions of people had suffered in terms of loss of life, property, livestock and standing crops.
NDMA was tasked by the prime minister to coordinate with the Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMAs) and proactively undertake rescue and relief operations in the affected areas.
The money will be utilised for the procurement of 200,000 tents, 100,000 ration bags and 2 million mosquito nets for the flood-affected population.
The ECC changed the mixing ratio for local and imported wheat after the Ministry of Industries complained about the low quality of flour being sold by the Utility Stores Corporation (USC).
It allowed Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) to supply wheat to USC at a ratio of 75% local and 25% imported commodity.
It was decided that all recipients including USC would pay full cost of wheat (local and imported) and incidental charges to Passco. The federal government will not take any financial liability and the recipient departments will clear their dues.
Excluding USC, the rest of the entities will be provided wheat at an equal ratio of local and imported commodity. The quality of imported wheat is not as good as that of local produce.
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Passco holds wheat stocks of 2.5 million tons, including 1.232 million tons of carry-forward stocks.
The Ministry of National Food Security and Research tabled a summary for the allocation of Passco’s local and imported wheat stock to the recipient agencies.
It was briefed that Passco had served as a strategic organisation to procure wheat from Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan to build strategic reserves and supply wheat to the recipient agencies in case of emergency. Every year, at the request of the recipient agencies, Passco allocates wheat from its stocks.
The Ministry of Industries and Production presented a summary for the release of funds for the provision of essential commodities by USC in the flood-affected areas.
The meeting was apprised that USC, in collaboration with the provincial governments, was participating in relief operations for the supply of essential food items in the flood-affected areas.
Due to the emergency situation and based on the preliminary need assessment, 113,700 ration bags amounting to Rs540 million will be disbursed. Considering the emergency, the ECC approved a supplementary grant of Rs540 million in favour of the corporation.
The ECC approved funds’ requirement of Rs1 billion in favour of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination for onward transfer to the government of Afghanistan through an approved mechanism for running costs and payment of salary to the staff of three Pakistani hospitals in Afghanistan.
The payment of Rs1 billion on account of salaries to the hospital staff is part of a Rs5 billion relief package the previous government announced for the Afghan people on humanitarian grounds in January last year.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 9th, 2022.
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