Wheat procurement debt on govt eases

CM says financial space of Rs100b would be beneficial in next season

LAHORE:

The Punjab government has achieved a reduction of Rs100 billion in its debt related to wheat procurement.

Chairing a meeting on Tuesday, Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said the reduction of debt would help the government in the next wheat procurement campaign.

Representatives of the Flour Mills Association, officers of departments concerned and some former officials attended the meeting.

The chief minister said subsidy would be given to people through the Ehsas Programme.

The farmers will be able to make immediate payments through the government's Go Punjab App without any problem.

The CM said the daily wheat release quota had been increased to 23,000 metric tonnes to keep the flour within the reach of everyone.

He said targeted subsidy was being given through the Punjab Ehsas Programme to provide wheat to the people at a low price. The Punjab government has ensured the supply of flour at cheap prices to deserving people through the programme, he added.

He said citizens could join the Ehsas Programme through their CNIC number to get the subsidy on flour.

He said the subsidised bazaar was an excuse for looting by the PML-N as people were not given real relief through targeted subsidies.

The CM directed the administration to take all possible measures to ensure the availability of flour to the people at the fixed price.

Strict monitoring should be done to prevent interprovincial transportation of wheat and flour and the police and administration should take action without discrimination to stop it, he added.

Referring to the poultry industry, the chief minister said a seed trial had been started to overcome soybean shortage. In one year, all the local requirements of soybean will be met from Punjab.

Meanwhile, the provincial government announced that it had set a record by spending Rs249 billion in the first six months of the current fiscal year under the Annual Development Programme. The amount is Rs89 billion more than the figure for the corresponding period of last year.

The CM expressed hope that the provincial government would set a record of the maximum utilisation of development funds.

The timely utilization of funds would ensure the completion of projects within their time frames to ensure that the people could benefit from the fruits of development, he added.

Provincial Minister Hasnain Bahadur Dreshak also called on Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi and thanked him for giving the status of a district to Jampur and tehsil to Dajal and Muhammadpur.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 4^th, 2023.