CM Chaudhry Parvez Elahi announces to give 21 thousand metric tons of wheat to Balochistan

LAHORE, Jan 13:

Chief Minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi has announced to give 21 thousand metric tons of wheat to Balochistan to help meet its food needs.

While chairing a meeting of the provincial cabinet committee on wheat at his office to review the latest situation of wheat stocks and flour prices, the CM noted that the federal government was responsible for supplying wheat to other provinces including Balochistan. But it has failed to fulfill this important responsibility. Balochistan has requested the Punjab government to provide 10 thousand metric tons of wheat and we decided to give 21 thousand metric tons of wheat which is more than the requirement, he said. Punjab would go all out to meet the food needs of other provinces, he said and added that a zero-tolerance policy would be followed against the wheat mafia. To stop the smuggling of wheat, the additional police force would be deployed at all the exit routes, he said and directed the IG police and ACS (Home) to implement the integrated plan for strict monitoring of the exit routes.

The meeting also deliberated on the proposal of supplying wheat to the chaki owners at the government level while the food secretary briefed about wheat reserves and flour prices. It was noted that 1541 FIRs have been registered and a fine of 39 million rupees has been imposed on the charges of wheat smuggling. The number of sale points has also been increased from 1059 to supply subsidized flour.

Provincial Ministers Sardar Hasnain Bahadur Dreshak, Syed Hussain Jahanian Gardezi, Chief Secretary Abdullah Sumbal, Principal Secretary Muhammad Khan Bhatti, former principal secretary GM Sikandar, former BOP president Hamesh Khan, economist Muhammad Sajid, Secretary Agriculture Ahmad Aziz Tarar, Director Food Shozeb Saeed and others attended the meeting.