25 February 2004	Wednesday	04 Muharram 1425

KARACHI, Feb 24: The Sindh government on Tuesday has given approval to its 'wheat policy 2004' under which procurement price has been fixed at Rs350 per maund and procurement target for the Food Department at 0.6 million tonnes.

The approval was given at a meeting of the provincial cabinet here on Tuesday. Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar presided over the meeting.

The meeting reviewed the ongoing wheat crisis created by mismanagement and misappropriation of stocks. Some 20 officials of the Food Department have been included in the investigations into the affair, it is learnt.

Sources pointed out that the province's wheat requirement stood at around 4.2 million tonnes whereas the wheat production this year was expected to come to around 2.2 million tonnes. Describing the estimated output this year as good, the sources said that the remaining quantity would be either acquired from Punjab or imported.

Minister for Agriculture Arif Jatoi told Dawn that the new crop was ready for harvesting and would soon be available in market. He hoped that with the arrival of the new crop, wheat crisis would be over.

About increasing prices of wheat and flour, he said the cost of input had climbed up. He said the government had no option open but to produce more wheat and ensure continued bumper crops.

Chief Secretary Mutawakkil Kazi said that the government had exhausted its all wheat stocks which had now come to zero level. The fresh stock of 0.6 million tonnes - 10 per cent of the total requirement - would be procured by food department to meet any unforeseen shortage.

The CM directed the department to submit a complete report in this regard to the cabinet in its next meeting, said Mehtab Akbar Rashdi, provincial Information Secretary, while briefing newsmen on the decisions taken by the cabinet.

She said that the Food Department had been directed to start procuring wheat from March 1 instead of April and complete the process by June 30. She said that some of the issues on the meeting's agenda were deferred as the concerned ministers could not make it due to their outstation engagements.

HOUSING: Ms Rashdi informed newsmen that the cabinet also decided to adopt the proposal put forward through the National Housing policy 2001 calling for a reduction in the stamp and registration duty from three per cent and one per cent respectively to an aggregate rate of one per cent only.

The proposal was opposed by the Revenue Department but the cabinet was of the view that a reduction duty rates would encourage people to get their properties registered on actual prices instead of transferring it on the basis of power of attorney.

The decision to wind up the Sindh Seeds Corporation was put off to the next meeting after formation of a review committee headed by the minister of agriculture.

The cabinet also decided to withdraw the 0.5 per cent infrastructure cess from the industrial units operating in the Export Processing Zone. The cabinet approved a proposal under which rebate would be paid as an incentive on payment of property tax in advance.

According to the formula, if the annual property tax is paid in advance for two years by August 31, the property owner would get a five per cent rebate. If the tax is paid on the date three, five or 10 years in advance, the rate of rebate would be 10, 20 and 30 per cent respectively.