Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has directed to initiate indiscriminate action against flour mills involved in the sale of allocated wheat in the open market and added that no flour mill can be allowed to do so. Action will be initiated against such flour mills, he added.
He issued these directives on Thursday while presiding over a meeting at his office to review prices as well as demand and supply of flour and wheat along with ongoing sugarcane crushing and payments to farmers in the province.
Usman Buzdar also directed to further streamline the monitoring of exit points as public interest is supreme. I shall not tolerate any hurdle in the provision of flour at the suitable rate and people should not face any difficulty with regard to the provision of flour in their areas, he said.
Action will be initiated in case of any complaint and the wheat procured by the flour mills from the food department must be made available in the market in the shape of flour. Hundred percent grinding of procured wheat should be ensured and this should also be regularly monitored along with submission of a report about it, the chief minister directed.
He reiterated that there should be no shortage of flour anywhere in the province and directed the food department that flour mills should be bound to establish fair-price shops where flour should be available at ex-mill rate.
Usman Buzdar said that the provincial food minister should take a lead for the solution of different issues and indiscriminate action should also be taken against the corrupt elements of the Food Department. The Food Secretary told that Food Department was daily releasing 4000 metric ton wheat to flour mills and ample wheat reserves were available in the province. The wheat quota of flour mills, failing to abide by the rules and regulations, has been suspended and there was no dearth of wheat or flour in the province, he added.
The meeting also reviewed the sugarcane crushing season and payments to the farmers. The chief minister was told that sugar mills are currently engaged in crushing. Ten million metric ton crushing has been done and 10.51 lac ton sugar reserves were available in the province. Last year, 99 percent payments have been made to the sugarcane farmers and around 80 percent payments have also been made this year.
Usman Buzdar assured that interests of sugarcane farmers will be safeguarded by the government adding that, in compliance with the clear-cut instructions of the Punjab government, some non-functional sugar mills have also started crushing.
The PTI government has protected farmers’ rights by increasing the support prices of wheat and sugarcane crops, he said and regretted that the past government exploited the farmers by not increasing the support-prices of these two crops. The incumbent government is farmer-friendly because Punjab would only be prosperous if its farmers are rich and contented. The Punjab government is striving to financially strengthen the farmers along with the promotion of the agriculture sector on modern lines, concluded the chief minister.
