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VEHARI, May 22: Growers accused Pasco of making inadequate wheat procurement arrangements, alleging this has caused them heavy financial loss. They told Dawn that the revision of the wheat procurement target by the Punjab government was too late since small growers had already sold their crop at a throwaway price to the middlemen.
They alleged that the Food department staff was buying wheat from other districts instead of providing gunny bags to the local growers.
They also accused commission agents of buying wheat at Rs350 to Rs380 per 40 kilograms instead of Rs415, the rate fixed by the government, as procurement centres had declined to buy more wheat.
Meanwhile, the Kisan Board also criticised the government’s wheat procurement policy at its meeting chaired by its district head Haji Muhammad Nawaz Wadhan.
Participants viewed the wheat price in the market had decreased due to its non-procurement by the government.
They said on one hand the prices of fertilisers, seeds and electricity had been increased while on the other, wheat was not being purchased according to the government fixed rate. They demanded that wheat should be procured according to the government rate so that the farmers could get relief.
LPG PRICE: Consumers have expressed concern over hike in the liquefied petroleum gas price.
They alleged that companies had raised the prices of domestic and commercial LPG gas cylinders by Rs60 and Rs250, respectively, which totals up to a 30 per cent raise in the gas price.
They demanded that the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) should look into the matter.
However, LPG companies’ officials claimed they had just increased the price by 10 per cent.
