May 12, 2002	Sunday	Safar 28, 1423

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HYDERABAD, May 11: Sindh Minister for Food, Hassan Ali Chanhio has directed his officials to accelerate the pace of wheat procurement in order to meet the specified targets, and to make payment to the growers on time.

He said no corrupt practices or dereliction of duty would be tolerated in this regard.

He was presiding over a meeting of food officials here the other day, which reviewed the pace of wheat procurement.

He said that each district had been provided bardana (gunny bags) in accordance with the given procurement targets, and added that if any shortage of gunny bags was experienced, those should be rushed without any delay.

The minister expressed his dissatisfaction over the pace of procurement, and instructed the officials to ensure the distribution of gunny bags to all the growers without any discrimination.

He said that in some districts procurement had been less than the given targets, whereas some districts had produced a surplus of crop.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Food Imtiaz Kazi said that for the procurement of three lakh tons of wheat, 1689 million gunny bags had already been distributed among the wheat growers, while 0.288 million bags were ready for distribution.

The secretary also gave the district-wise details about the distribution of gunny bags. The minister directed the senior officials of the department to personally visit all the procurement centres and purchase the wheat according to the quality specified by the government.

The deputy directors of the department, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana and Mirpurkhas, gave the details of wheat procurement in their respective regions.