KARACHI, Oct 4: Sindh wants to pay the Punjab for the wheat it is receiving from there but the Punjab Food Department insists on wheat swap. That is, they want Sindh to return the amount of wheat it has borrowed from the Punjab , during a mutually agreed period.

Sources close to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock said the Punjab Food Department has made it clear to the ministry that they would like Sindh Food Department to return the wheat it is currently borrowing from there, when they do have surplus to do so.

But Sindh Food Department has informed the ministry that the province facing wheat crisis cannot afford to return the borrowed wheat to the Punjab and would like to pay for it, instead. The ministry has asked the food departments of the two provinces to settle this issue with mutual consent.

Sindh borrowed 50,000 tons wheat from the Punjab last year and is now borrowing another 100,000 tons. Officials in Sindh Food Department say since wheat reserves in Sindh are as low as 200,000 tons against a huge 2.4 million tons reserves in the Punjab, it is near impossible for Sindh to return wheat to the Punjab.

Officials here say that the 100,000 tons of wheat borrowed form Punjab is currently being transported from that province into Sindh adding that so far only around 10,000 tons have been lifted.

They say that the lifting of the remaining 90,000 tons of Punjab wheat, coupled with whatever amount Sindh is going to get out of the imported stock of wheat would improve the supply of this commodity and help reduce wheat flour prices.

The federal government has decided to give Sindh 12,400 tons of wheat out of 40,400 tons imported this month from Russia. Earlier, it had received 15,000 tons out of an imported consignment of 40,000 tons.

Sources close to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock say Sindh has once again raised the issue of what wheat traders say a ban on movement of wheat from the Punjab to Sindh and elsewhere. But officials of the Punjab Food Department have told the ministry that it continues to allow legitimate traders to transport wheat from the Punjab to Sindh and elsewhere. Under the rules, only those traders can trade wheat that get food grain licences from the provincial food department.

Wheat growers and traders accuse the Punjab Food Department of being too choosy in issuing these licences. Some of them even say the licences are issued to the big and the powerful, having strong political clouts, and the smaller ones are neglected. But officials of the Punjab Food Department reject such criticism saying the licences are issued on merit.

PM INTERVENTION: The government sources say Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz is likely to intervene in the matter very shortly adding that he may ask the Punjab Food Department to liberalize wheat movement to Sindh and elsewhere. "A decision is very much likely within this week," a senior official of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock told Dawn from Islamabad.