KASUR, April 2: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Sunday that the government would not allow wheat prices to fall in the wake of reports of a better crop this year. Addressing public meetings in Kot Radha Kishan and Chunian in connection with the inauguration of gas supply schemes, Mr Aziz said the government would remain in the market to maintain the support price.

“If required, the government will buy the entire wheat crop, export the surplus and sell flour in the local market at the lowest possible price,” he said.

Similarly, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Illahi, who also addressed the meeting, said he was determined to see growers thriving in the country. But he did not mention any increase in the provincial wheat procurement target, which was two million tons against last year’s procurement of over three million tons. “We have taken solid steps to protect the interests of farmers,” he said.

The prime minister said the government had attached top-most priority to the construction of water reservoirs and vowed that a number of dams would be constructed in the near future. According to him, President Musharraf will lay the foundation stone of the Bhasha-Diamer dam this month.

Since the government’s fiscal policies have started bearing fruit, the country no longer faces the threat of bankruptcy, he said.

Pointing out that 2007 was going to be an election year, he said people should vote for the PML and guarantee continuity of the present mega projects. He promised that electricity would be provided to all the country’s villages under the Roshan Pakistan Programme by the end of 2007. He urged people to promote brotherhood and discourage sectarianism.

Referring to a government plan to provide clean drinking water to the people, the prime minister said that a major programme was being implemented under which filtration plants would be installed in all parts of the country. With the completion of this plan, most people will have access to clean drinking water.

Mr Aziz said that due attention had been given to the promotion of education, because hopes of progress and advancement would remain stalled if rapid strides were not made in this sector.