Inter-provincial wheat movement: Sindh government challenges decision of ECC

The Sindh government has challenged the decision of the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) on inter-provincial wheat movement as the former is all set to impose a ban on the influx of the commodity from Punjab. Sources told Business Recorder here on Tuesday that in the recent meeting of ECC, it was decided that there should not be a ban on inter-provincial or inter-district wheat movement throughout the country.
"Dr Shakeel, Federal Wheat Commissioner raised the issue of the possibility of ban from Sindh Food Department on the import of the commodity from Punjab during the ECC meeting and it was decided by the concerned authorities present in the meeting that any sort of ban on wheat movement throughout the country would not be accepted", sources explained.
Sources maintained, "Sindh Food Department has developed the habit of imposing ban on inter-provincial wheat movement every year but it is an injustice to the province of Punjab as well as with the people living in Sindh province because the price of Punjab wheat in Sindh is lower than the price of Sindh wheat".
Sindh Food Department wants its commodity to be sold to the flourmills that is why they are in favour of the imposition of a ban, sources further revealed. The government of Sindh''s decision to impose an inter-provincial ban on the movement of wheat is unconstitutional as according to clause (3) of Article 151 of the constitution, "A Provincial Assembly or a Provincial Government shall not have power to make any law, or take any executive action, prohibiting or restricting the entry into, or the export from, the Province of goods of any class or description".
While according to Clause (4) of the same article, "An Act of a Provincial Assembly which imposes any reasonable restriction in the interest of public health, public order or morality, or for the purpose of protecting animals or plants from disease or preventing or alleviating any serious shortage in the Province of an essential commodity shall not, if it was made with the consent of the President, be invalid".
When contacted, Secretary Ministry of Food and Agriculture Junaid Chaudhary, said that the government has directed all the four provinces not to impose a ban on inter-provincial wheat movement this year. Pakistan this year expects to produce nearly 24 million tons of wheat, Pakistan''s annual domestic wheat consumption is around 21 million tons and government has decided to procure over 6.5 million tons of wheat to safeguard the food security situation in the country while the rest of the commodity would be purchased by the private sector.
Sources close to the deliberations accused officials of Sindh Food Department to earn millions of rupees by restricting inter-provincial wheat movement each year. They said that from provincial food minister to secretary all the officials are taking full advantage of the situation.
"Sindh food department has established check-points at all the entry points to Sindh from Punjab, when a wheat loaded truck enters in the limits of Sindh the provincial food department officials'' stop them and do not allow entry into the province until they get Rs 5000 to Rs 10000 as bribe" one of the top provincial food department officials said.
The official argued that the provincial government should not ban the inter-provincial wheat movement saying that it is largely in the interest of poor farmers not to restrict the commodity movement in any area of the country.
Currently, wheat harvesting season in Sindh province has started and farmers are getting maximum Rs 850-900 per 40 kg for their produce against government announced wheat support price of Rs 950 per 40 kg and if the government does not impose a ban on wheat movement farmers would get around Rs 900-1000 per 40 kg of wheat. Annually Karachi requires around 2 million tons of wheat for a population of around 20 million but restriction on wheat deprives them of fair price of wheat flour as in interior Sindh and in all parts of Punjab normal wheat flour is available at Rs 30-32 per kg but in Karachi it is being sold at Rs 35 per kg, sources added.
Chairman Agri-Forum Pakistan, Ibrahim Mughal told Business Recorder that the forum has sent some budget proposals to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). These proposals include the withdrawal of 3.5 percent withholding tax on agri-trading is causing a huge loss of Rs 40 billion to the consumers and farmers. Ibrahim urged the government to cut non-development budget in the up-coming budget of 2011-12. The forum has also requested the government to reduce the size of provincial food departments by 75 percent, saying that majority of the officials are a burden on the government expenditure.
The proposals also include the availability of fertilisers at time of crops'' sowing. It has also been proposed that the government should announce support price for important crops at following rates: wheat Rs 1250 per 40kg, irri-6 paddy Rs 1000 per 40 kg, cotton Rs 3000/40kg, sugarcane Rs 200/40kg, sun flower Rs 2500/40kg, canola Rs 2500/40kg, maize Rs 1250/40kg and gram Rs 1500/40kg.
He said that the Bank of Punjab should allocate Rs 25 billion, Bank of Sindh Rs 10 billion, Punjab Co-operative society Rs 20 billion and the Zarai Tarakiati Bank (ZTBL) Rs 250 billion as loans for the development of the agriculture sector annually.