LAHORE: The government has been urged to abolish all taxes on food items for making them affordable for the poor segments of society.

“The government will have to increase oil prices as it cannot sustain the burden for too long to subsidise petroleum products. But, while increasing oil prices, it should take steps to protect the food sector from its impact,” Tehreek-i-Istaqlal president Rehmat Khan Wardag told a press conference on Monday.

He suggested the government should make food items tax free and enhance wages of workers instead of giving financial packages to industrialists as the past government did.

He said another step req­uired to stabilise food prices was checking smuggling of agricultural products to other countries through international borders.

He said that revolutionary measures for the development of the agriculture sector would lead to self-sufficiency in food for which a flat electricity rate should be announced for tube-wells to enable farmers to work harder on their crops.

The abundance of agricultural production, he said, would make it possible to provide affordable food to the masses.

He demanded the government to pay fair price of wheat, cotton and sugarcane to growers immediately and abolish the role of middlemen because it led to economic exploitation of farmers and consumers alike.

He said the government should introduce quality seeds and provide farmers fertiliser and pesticides at reasonable prices to improve agricultural production. Good yielding seeds would increase profits of farmers and they would be encouraged to work harder, he added.

He also demanded regular cleansing of canals twice a year and stressed the need for measures to prevent wastage and unfair distribution of canal water.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2022