LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that 376 wheat procurement centers would be set up across the province to facilitate farmers.
Presiding over a high level meeting regarding Wheat Procurement Campaign 2016-17 here, he said that like previous years, interest of cultivators would be protected this year as well.
"There is a bumper wheat crop this year and interest of the farmers will be protected at every cost," he added.
He directed that arrangements should be made to facilitate the cultivators at procurement centers, adding that process of distribution of gunny bags among the farmers would be made transparent this year as well.
Shehbaz Sharif said that all necessary measures would be taken for the stability of wheat prices and ensure that cultivators were not affected by low wheat prices and recession in international market.
The Chief Minister said that middleman would not be allowed to exploit the cultivators in the procurement of wheat and they would not be able to participate in the wheat procurement process.
He said that complaint cells would be set up at provincial, divisional, district and tehsil levels and any complaint in the procurement process would immediately be addressed.
Shehbaz Sharif said that an effective monitoring system had also been introduced with the help of information technology for ensuring transparency in wheat procurement process.
He said that wheat would be procured from small cultivators on priority basis and he would personally supervise wheat procurement campaign.
He said the Punjab government had given a historic package of 100 billion rupees for the next two years for the prosperity of farmers and uplift of agriculture sector and its implementation would leave a positive impact on agriculture.
Provincial Minister for Food and Secretary Food gave a briefing on the arrangements for wheat procurement campaign.
Federal Minister National Food Security Sikandar Hayat Bosan, Provincial Ministers Rana Sanaullah, Bilal Yasin, Atta Manika, Nadeem Kamran, Farrukh Javed, Iqbal Channar, Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, Chaudhry Muhammad Shafique, Members National and Provincial Assembly, Chief Secretary, Inspector General Police, MD PASSCO, relevant secretaries and senior officials attended the meeting.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.