Punjab starts providing wheat to mills: Bid to stabilize flour price -DAWN


01 October 2004	Friday	15 Shaban 1425

Punjab starts providing wheat to mills: Bid to stabilize flour price
By Our Staff Reporter

LAHORE, Sept 30: The Punjab government decided on Thursday to start releasing 10,000 tons of wheat daily to flour mills in the province at the rate of Rs390 per 40kg.

The decision, effective from Friday (today), was taken during a meeting which was presided over by Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi.

Officials said the government intended to have negotiations with the millers so as to keep the prices of flour low. The government would provide a subsidy of Rs250 million for giving such wheat to the millers, they claimed.

The government is supplying wheat to the millers this year 10 days earlier than its regular annual schedule. The chief minister directed the officials concerned to ensure that the common man benefited from the subsidy. "Adopt all possible means to keep the flour prices low and give wheat only to those millers who are following rules and regulations," he ordered.

WHEAT FOR OTHER PROVINCES: Earlier, the chief minister said there was no ban on the inter-provincial movement of wheat and the Punjab was ready to supply it to other provinces to fulfil their requirements.

He said Sindh had lifted only 25,000 tons of wheat out of its 100,000 tons quota fixed by the federal government. On the other hand, the NWFP government had not taken any step to lift its 100,000 tons of wheat despite repeated requests by the provincial government.

The chief minister said his government had also announced that it would supply 50,000 tons of wheat to Balochistan but was informed that it did not require the commodity.

The meeting was informed that over 6,500 tons of wheat in the form of flour was being provided to other provinces. Likewise, 800,000 tons of wheat had been lifted during the last four months. The Punjab had also supported PASCO in procuring extra 200,000 tons of wheat.

The meeting was informed that the Punjab was paying the subsidy of wheat being supplied to other provinces. The federal government, too, had never compensated it for sharing its stocks of wheat with other provinces.