ISLAMABAD, Aug 22: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday assured the National Assembly that the wheat support price will be upward revised well on time to encourage farmers to cultivate the crop on maximum area.

Intervening during the question hour, the prime minister said though the farmers got better price due to the new government’s decision to increase the wheat support price but it did not work due to late announcement.

Earlier, Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestock Nazar Mohammed Gondal said the government would ensure availability of wheat at balanced price during the holy month of Ramazan.

“We are well-equipped and have enough quantity of wheat to be provided at balanced price to facilitate the people,” he told the house.

He said an amount of about Rs15.4 billion was spent for agricultural development during 2007-08 while Rs20 billion would be spent for the purpose during the current year.

A mega project “Crop maximization project-II” has been launched in 1020 villages of all the four provinces to increase overall agricultural production, which would be extended to other parts of the country.

The government has allocated Rs230 billion for agricultural loans to ensure timely distribution of all types of fertilizers at responsible prices.

JUDICIARY: Meanwhile, during his first interaction with media persons at the Prime Minister’s House, Mr Gilani criticised media reports that there was any minus-one formula under discussion in the Pakistan People’s Party before reinstatement of the deposed judges.

Defending the delay in taking decisions by the government on the issue, he said the politicians who had struggled and suffered for long years for restoration of true democracy in the country would not disappoint the nation.

He said no one should doubt PPP’s sincerity about restoration of the judiciary to the pre-November 3 position. “We are not working on minus-one formula to sideline deposed chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.” He expressed the hope that the tripartite committee consisting of Asfandyar Wali Khan, Maulana Fazlur Rahman and a Fata representative would be successful in finding a solution to the problem.

“I want to take the nation into confidence that it (minus-one formula) is against independent judiciary.”

He recalled slain PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s visit to deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry’s residence and declaration that the official flag would again be hoisted on his residence.

He also lambasted the impression of the ongoing military operation in tribal and settled areas of NWFP as extension of war on terror.

The prime minister parried a question as to why the government had straight away started a huge military operation in Bajaur immediately after his return from the United States giving an impression that the government had succumbed to American demand for “do more”.