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Govt to bear wheat transport charges -
Incentive to growers
LAHORE, April 21: The
Punjab government on Tuesday announced Rs7 per
40kg as transport charges for farmers and
restricted the purchase of the commodity only to
the licence-holding private parties. It has also
decided to again give 35 per cent power rebate on
agriculture tubewells from the next financial
year.
The announcement was made by Chief Minister
Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi at a news conference after
presiding over a meeting on the procurement of
wheat. Food Minister Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal was
also present. He said the government would pay
Rs700 million as transport charges to farmers if
it procured the targeted 3.5 million tons of
wheat.
Official sources said the administrative steps had
been taken to help the government meet its wheat
procurement targets. The provincial government is
already giving Rs1.25 per 40kgs to the farmers as
handling charges, raising with the transport
charges the official support price of 40kg of
wheat to a total Rs358.25 per 40kg as against the
actual Rs350 announced by the federal government.
He said the farmers previously used to bear the
brunt of the transport charges of wheat, but now
the government had decided to give them some
relief in this connection. "We are expecting
bumper crop this season," he said.
He said it had been decided to allow only the
licence-holders to buy wheat and they would be
bound to convey their daily procurement to the
government so that it could keep an eye on the
activity by the private sector.
"Those not holding any licence would not be
allowed to purchase wheat at any cost," he said,
adding this step had been taken to allow
uninterrupted purchase of the commodity by the
genuine buyers.
Replying to questions, the chief minister said the
government expected 1.1 million tons more wheat
this season than the last year when the province
had grown 15 million tons of it.
The chief minister said there was no shortage of
gunny bags and they were being supplied freely to
farmers after the withdrawal of the role of
tehsildars and patwaris, who used to attest the
requirement of the growers.
He said payments to the farmers were being made on
the spot under an agreement made with the National
Bank of Pakistan. "I have asked the government
officials that no complaint in this regard would
be tolerated, and they would have to purchase
wheat like the private sector does," he said.
The chief minister said around 99 per cent of the
sugarcane growers had been given their dues of the
last year by the mills. He said the increase in
the farm income tax on large land holdings didn't
make any difference.
The government had withdrawn the tax on land up to
12.5 acres which was owned by 95 per cent of
farmers in the province, he said. The flat water
rate was another relief for small farmers.
The chief minister said the government had given
35 per cent rebate on agriculture tubewells last
year and he had requested the prime minister to
again allow it in the next budget.
The DAWN
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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