ISLAMABAD, Sept 15: The government has decided to import one million tonnes of wheat to make a reasonable buffer stock in order to meet any shortages in future.During a meeting with a group of federal ministers and parliamentarians at the Prime Minister’s House here on Saturday, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz expressed concern over an ‘artificial’ shortage and price hike of wheat and flour coinciding with the advent of Ramazan.

Mr Aziz said that the government had taken serious note of reported shortage and high prices of wheat flour in various parts of the country despite abundant stocks following a bumper crop this year. He said the government had, therefore, decided to import one million tonnes of wheat.

The Prime Minister directed the governments of Sindh and Punjab to streamline supply and ensure liberal release of wheat to operational flour mills only so that flour was made available at reasonable prices in the open market.

The provincial governments have also been directed to activate the price magistrates to check prices of essential items especially wheat flour during Ramazan and to identify wheat/flour hoarders and take action against them.

Directives have been issued to all border monitoring and controlling agencies to ensure that the ban on wheat export by sea and land route is strictly enforced.

The ministry of interior has been asked to strictly monitor the measures taken by various agencies to check wheat smuggling throughout the country in close coordination with the provincial governments.

The Utility Stores Corporation has also been directed to ensure availability of wheat flour at reduced prices through its 3,600 outlets and immediately deploy sufficient number of mobile flour shops in big cities.

The meeting also discussed the upcoming elections for which the ruling Pakistan Muslim League is now gearing up and a need for party’s unity was stressed to take its message of good governance, transparency and improvement in the standard of living, effectively to the people.

It was observed that the re-election of President General Pervez Musharraf would ensure continuity and consistency of policies and progress of the country and strengthen democratic traditions. The meeting also discussed prevailing socio-political situation in the country.