PESHAWAR, Jan 10: Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture, Cooperatives and Livestock Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan has said that the federal government has decided to never again impose the ban on the inter-provincial movement of wheat.
"It has been made clear to the government of Punjab that from now onwards the movement of wheat cannot be restricted," said Mr Bosan during a visit to the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here on Monday.
He was responding to complaints made by the SCCI's president, Malik Niaz, who apprised him and his cabinet colleague, Jehangir Khan Tareen, Federal Minister for Industries and Production, of the adverse effects experienced by the flour mills of the NWFP as a result of the ban on the transportation of wheat from Punjab to other parts of the country last year, from April 26 to the beginning of September.
"The federal government has taken a forceful stand on the issue and the government of Punjab has been stopped from exercising this measure again in future," said the minister for food.
The SCCI president took the stand that the government of Punjab resorted to "ultra-constitutional and illegal means" by refusing to have wheat sent to the flour mills established in the smaller provinces to "benefit a strong lobby of flour millers from Punjab."
"Wheat stocks available with all the flour mills in the NWFP, if put together, are less than the wheat reserves being maintained by a single flour mill owned by the chief minister of Punjab, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi," maintained the SCCI's president in his welcome address.
Speaking on the occasion, the minister for industries and production and special initiatives, Jehangir Khan Tareen, who was the chief guest, rejected the impression saying that the decision to ban the transportation of wheat from Punjab to other provinces had been forced by the circumstances.
He specified, "It was justified and not meant for the benefit of a specific individual." Both the ministers said that the government of Punjab had to adopt the measure after the process to import three million tons of wheat got delayed.
"We had decided to import three million tons of wheat during the current financial year, but the move got delayed making the government of Punjab to go for introducing ban on the inter-provincial movement of wheat to ensure availability of wheat in its own markets," said Mr Tareen.
The Punjab government, he added, did not want to undergo a similar situation like the one experienced by flour millers of the NWFP as a result of the non-availability of wheat. However, he assured the flour milling sector of the NWFP that the federal government would not let the Punjab government to introduce such measures again in future.
The ban on wheat movement it must be mentioned here had also irked the Asian Development Bank which is financing the government of Pakistan's agriculture sector development programme. The bank, according to official sources, had also communicated its displeasure regarding the ban to federal government authorities concerned.
Under the loan agreement between the two sides the government of Pakistan has to ensure free market of wheat across the country and the inter-provincial movement of wheat can not be stopped in line with a condition of the agreement.
Addressing the SCCI members the minister for food expressed the hope that the country would have a good wheat crop yield this time around as a result of which the situation caused last year because of the ban would not be repeated next year.
"The country is going to have a good wheat crop yield and the problems caused by the ban would not result next year," said Mr Bosan while assuring the flour millers of the NWFP.
