Kissan Board Pakistan (KBP) has said it will issue a white paper on rampant corruption of Revenue and Food departments during the on-going campaign for purchase of four million tons of wheat. KBP said that agents of MNAs and MPAs in connivance with the corrupt elements of Food and Revenue departments have deprived the small farmers of the government procurement price of Rs 950 per maund.
KBP President Sardar Zafar Hussain alleged that the Food department is distributing gunny bags on political grounds to influential people and the small farmers are not getting the gunny bags so that they could not sell their produce at the government procurement centres. The growers were forced to sell wheat at Rs 800 to Rs 850 to the middlemen, as against the support price of Rs 950 per maund.
He suggested that the government should revise procurement target and allocate more funds for the purchase of additional wheat. Meanwhile Punjab Food Minister Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor has said that the Punjab government has approached the federal government with the request to increase wheat procurement target of the province from 3.5 million tons to 4 million tons. Punjab chief minister had already announced to enhance procurement target to 4 million tons.
Ghafoor said Punjab government had so far distributed 2.5 million gunny bags among growers and the government had procured 2 million tons wheat from 375 centres set up across the province. He said that revenue department officials were also appointed at the procurement centres along with the food department people to facilitate the farmers.
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