Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Punjab president Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo . PHOTO: PID
PPP central Punjab president Manzoor Wattoo said on Tuesday that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto’s 12 September speech was the catalyst for the prime minister’s Rs341 billion-relief package for farmers.
Wattoo dismissed the package as too little too late, saying that the government’s policies had wreaked havoc on farmers. Saying that farmers had recorded consecutive losses over the last four crop seasons, he asked for the general sales tax on agricultural machinery and produce to be waived. He called for the immediate fixing of cotton, rice, sugarcane and potato support prices. He said the cosmetic measures were akin to rubbing salt into farmers’ wounds. The PPP central Punjab supremo said the government’s policies had decimated the agriculture sector which was the backbone of the national economy. He said the rural economy was in a bad shape due to this.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2015.
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