LAHORE, May 16: Punjab Chief Secretary Hafeez Akhtar Randhawa claimed on Friday that all wheat procurement targets were being met, and the impression to the contrary was not correct.

Addressing a press conference here, the chief secretary claimed that the procurement drive rested on three postulates: ensuring a support price of Rs300 per 40kg, containing the role of middlemen and ensuring that all the marketable crop was bought in the province.

The drive is achieving all these targets as the price of wheat has crossed the Rs300 per 40kg benchmark. This shows that the role of middleman has been limited and the government’s preparations have stirred the private sector into frantic buying.

The government initially set a national target of 3.5 million tons for wheat procurement, which was extendible to 4.5 million tons. The target was set only to make preparations for storage and gunny bags and could be reduced or increased according to circumstances, he said.

The government has already procured around two million tons of wheat. It had bought only 1.6 million tons during the corresponding period last year. This showed the level of government’s commitment to wheat procurement, the chief secretary claimed.

Mr Randhawa said that the less the government procured, the better it would be. The government spends huge money on every ton of wheat procured. If it reduces the target this year and saves some money, it can easily divert the same to the private sector as export incentives. The government, he said, was trying to encourage maximum wheat export to earn foreign exchange and stabilize the domestic market.

In addition to this, the government was also trying to improve the technological base of the wheat purification process and bring the crop quality on a par with international standards, he added.