ISLAMABAD, Sept 19: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz directed the provincial governments on Wednesday to ensure wheat supply to mills and the district administrations to crack down on hoarders. In the meantime, the artificial increase in wheat prices saw a gradual decline in some parts of the country.
The prime minister issued the directives during a meeting held here to review the wheat and flour prices situation. Officials of the ministries of food and industries informed the meeting that price control magistrates had failed to curb the price hike at the district level despite having imposed massive fines on profiteers, sources said.
They said the prime minister supported the ministries which had blamed the provincial governments and district administrations for the price hike owing to their failure to lay hands on hoarders and smugglers.
The prime minister asked the ministers and secretaries concerned to report to him on a daily basis on the price situation.
“Prices are still about one and a half rupees per kilogramme higher than the pre-Ramazan level although the price of wheat has come down to Rs1,500 per 100kg in Karachi and Rs1,450 in Rawalpindi and some other cities today,” Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Sikandar Hayat Bosan told Dawn while commenting on the proceedings of the meeting.
He said the meeting was informed that there was no problem with the wheat stocks, but the hoarders had exploited the situation and the provincial governments must act against them.
He said there were 4.6 million tons of wheat in the government stock and 1.2million tons with the private sector. There were another 8 million tons with the private sector.
“We really hope that prices will come down to the pre-Ramazan level within a week,” Mr Bosan said.
Answering a question, he said that neither the Commerce Ministry nor the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) was responsible for crop estimation. The estimates were being prepared by the Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBS) by gathering data from the provinces. He said no one could influence the FBS data.
He said his ministry had issued a notice to the TCP on Wednesday for issuing statements in the media indicating reduction in wheat production estimates.
“Wheat production in this season is still estimated at 23.5million tons. And, all reports which hinting at lowering the estimates are baseless,” Mr Bosan said.
The meeting was also attended by Minister for Industries, Production and Special Initiatives Jehangir Tareen, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Salman Shah and secretaries concerned.
Sources said Mr Tareen told the meeting that without creating a considerable buffer stock of essential food items like wheat, pulses and sugar, prices would remain vulnerable to manipulation by hoarders. He also told the prime minister that it was vital to give incentives to farmers to increase production of pulses which had seen a considerable decline last year.
Meanwhile, an official announcement issued here said that the prime minister appreciated the work of Utility Stores Corporation (USC) and asked its managing director, Brig (retd) Hafeez, to continue to supply flour in ample quantities to the utility stores and the Sasta Bazaar at reduced rate.
