LAHORE: Expressing reservations on the proposed wheat release policy of the Punjab province, flour millers belonging to the Progressive Flour Millers Group have urged the Chief Minister Punjab that wheat issued from the government godowns should be priced according to the open market to lessen the burden of subsidy on the national exchequer.
Instead of a blanket subsidy, the government should extend any subsidy to the poor or deserving directly through the Benazir Income Support Fund of Ehsaas programme, they added.
The flour millers said that the provincial government was preparing a wheat issuance policy at the moment and reportedly the price was being fixed at Rs4200 per maund. The wheat had been bought by the provincial government in April-May 2023 at Rs3900 per maund and adding storage, markup and incidentals it presently cost to the food department at Rs4700 per maund.
“If the wheat release policy fixes the issuance price at Rs4200 per maund then the government had to bear a subsidy of Rs60 billion in this regard,” claimed Progressive Flour Millers Group leaders Khalique Arshad and Majid Abdullah in a letter sent to the Chief Minister Punjab Mohsin Naqvi. A copy of the letter was also shared with the media here on Wednesday.
The group further said that KP had fixed the release price at Rs4600 per maund while Sindh had not announced anything yet. So if Punjab fixes the release price at Rs4200 per maund then its products might go to other provinces as these would fetch higher prices and this movement of wheat and wheat products could not be stopped as per the constitution.
They said that the past experiences had also proved that a major portion of subsidies went to corrupt elements. They said flour millers were increasing in the province while one-fourth of the present number of mills could meet the flour demand of the province.
They further said at present imported wheat was coming into the country while according to estimates importers had finalized contracts of over one million tons of wheat. Out of this five million had already reached the country while the government was also planning to import another one million tons to augment its grain reserves putting additional pressure on the national exchequer.
Proposing a future line of action, they said that the government should allow growers in the coming procurement season to sell their produce at open market rates. The government should keep only strategic reserves and if it sees prices dwindling then the food department should come into the field for wheat procurement. They were of the view that it would help increase national wheat production thus reducing reliance on imported wheat and lessening the burden on the national exchequer.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023