April 26, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 19, 1429

SAHIWAL, April 25: The NWFP seeks 100,000 tons of wheat and Balochistan 300,000 tons from the Punjab Food Department to meet their storage targets, says Punjab Food Minister Nadeem Kamran.

The NWFP has also asked Punjab to allow their wheat dealers to buy 1.2 million tons of wheat from Punjab, Mr Kamran told reporters during his first visit to his hometown on Friday.

He said the Punjab government would supply the commodity to the NWFP but would not allow wheat trade through private parties because there was ban on inter-provincial transportation of wheat.

He said even though his department had set the target of three million tons of wheat for the ongoing procurement season, but would procure four to five million tons to absorb the shortage gap which would probably grip the country in next two to three months. He said Sindh was also facing wheat shortage and but it had not sought Punjab’s help to meet its target.

He blamed the previous government’s policies and “fabricated” data for wheat shortage.

"Had we announced the wheat support price earlier, there would not have been any wheat shortage,” he claimed.

He said the government would import 1.5 million tons of wheat. He said he had order his department to supply 2,000 tons of wheat to flour mills in Lahore for three consecutive days. “This measure will fulfill people need and there will be no queue at utility stores in the provincial capital,” he said. He said he was identifying “corrupt and inefficient” food officials and within three days, there would be reshuffle in officials.

Earlier, Mr Kamran received a warm welcome on his maiden arrival in his city after taking oath of the ministry. The city has been given representation in the Punjab cabinet after 20 years.

—Shafiq Butt