February 03, 2009	Tuesday	Safar 07, 1430

KARACHI, Feb 2: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that there was no shortage of wheat in the province.

He said that the procurement of wheat would begin from Feb 15 and centres were being set up to achieve the procurement target.

He said this while chairing a high level meeting regarding prices of essential items and food stocks.

The CM said that the transportation system of wheat would be improved to avoid any hindrance in supplying wheat to flour mills.

He said that this year wheat has been grown on 10.27 lac hectares while its procurement target has been set at 1.2 million tons.

Mr Shah said that he would approach the prime minister and Punjab chief minister to meet the requirement of wheat in Sindh besides ensuring availability of required quantity of wheat from Trading Corporation of Pakistan.

He said that the government activated the Bureau of Supply and Prices for controlling the prices essential commodities and the Consumer Protection Council was also made functional to achieve better result in this regard.

The CM said that the district coordination officers and deputy district officers have been entrusted with powers to maintain control on prices of food items and take action against those violating the Price Control Ordinance.—APP