The Ministry of Industries is reportedly considering to take away fertiliser import task from the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP). For this hectic lobbying is underway, sources told Business Recorder. They said that the Minister for Industries and Defence Production, Pervez Elahi, who recently met President Asif Ali Zardari along with Shujaat Hussain, requested the President that import of urea and sugar for USC should be given to his Ministry.
Both PML-Q leaders, with full backing of their Ministers in the shape of resignations, also requested the President that Prime Minister should be asked not to involve himself in routine matters of their Ministries. However, Muhammad Basharat, Advisor to Prime Minister on Industries, a close confidante of Pervez Elahi, said on Tuesday that the government is well aware of the urgency in meeting fertiliser demand which is why it is proposing the import and distribution of urea by the same agency ie National Fertiliser Corporation (NFC).
The incumbent and former officials of the National Fertiliser Marketing Limited (NFML) are already under investigation, and the FIA has held a number of officials involved in black marketing of urea. Basharat said that the perception that the federal government had any intentions to manoeuvre fertiliser distribution in Punjab to malign the provincial government and win over political opponents is wrong.
He said that availability of fertiliser is an issue of life and death for a great number of people and the leadership of PML is sensitive to the demands of the people. He stressed that this is no time for political point scoring and urea will be available to every farmer irrespective of his party affiliation. He said that agriculture is the mainstay in Pakistan''s economy and the government has a history of formulating pro-farmer policies to support agriculture in the country.
Talking about fertilisers'' distribution mechanism he said that even if fertiliser was imported by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP), the distribution of imported fertiliser falls under the purview of MoI, and the Ministry has no intention of using it as a political lever and to distribute it in a preferential manner. The Advisor said that the import and distribution of fertiliser would be through a fair and transparent process, and all rules and procedures will be strictly adhered to. He stressed that with the advent of information age and under the watchful eyes of vigilant media in Pakistan, transparency in governance has greatly increased, and there is no room for speculation now.