Senate panel wants CCI to decide wheat support price

ISLAMABAD:

The Senate Standing Committee on Food Security recommended to the government to take the matter of wheat support price to the Council of Common Interests (CCI), stressing that the wheat harvest was about to begin and the growers were still didn’t know about the price of the commodity.

The committee, which met here with Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah in the chair, noted that there was a flour crisis in the country, and wheat and fertiliser smuggling to Afghanistan was going unabated, but the authorities concerned were taking no action in this regard.

The committee had a detailed discussion on the minimum support price of wheat in the provinces. Shah observed that support price should be announced before the start of harvesting. He added that wheat harvest was about to begin in Sindh, yet the support price had not been announced.

He asked the food security ministry officials why the matter of wheat support price had not been taken to the CCI. Additional Food Security Secretary Syed Khalid Gardezi told the committee that the matter was still pending in the cabinet.

The chair noted that there was a flour crisis in the country and expensive wheat was being imported from abroad. The officials said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would consult Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto about the wheat support price.

Officials said that the problem of flour in the country was because the supply was short of demand. Committee member Jam Mehtab said that traders were buying cheap wheat and selling it at exorbitant rates. He stressed the need for taking strict action against the wheat hoarders.

The committee chairman noted that the employees of the Pakistan Central Cotton Company were not getting their salaries since 2016, while the food security ministry had been making excuses on this issue for the last seven years.