LARKANA, Oct 5: Chief Minister of Sindh Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim has said the provincial government is going to establish a micro-credit bank to provide interest-free loans to farmers and small traders.

He told a delegation of farmers and rice traders here on Monday night that the process in this regard had already taken off and a formal announcement would come soon. Dr Rahim assured the rice traders of taking up the issue of the export of Sugdasi rice with the federal government.

He said that there was no shortage of wheat and flour in the province after the import of 40,000 tonnes of wheat and lifting of the ban on wheat movement by the Punjab government.

On the dam issue, the chief minister said that the rights of people of Sindh would be safeguarded and a decision in this regard would be taken according to the wishes of the people of the four provinces.

He said the widening and strengthening of the Airport road would be included in the annual development programme and a bridge on the River Indus to connect Larkana and Khairpur districts would be constructed in due course of time, adding that only certain technical problems had to be resolved.

Earlier, the chief minister said at a press conference that that he had come here to ascertain facts about the kidnapping case of a rice trader Santosh Kumar. He added that investigation in the case would continue and the people involved in the kidnapping would be punished.

He said that people harbouring criminals would be dealt with iron hand and the police officers helping such elements would not escape stern action. The chief minister said that competent policemen would be rewarded and black sheep in the force would be sent home. Seeking people's support, he urged them to expose the criminals so that they could be arrested.

He said that the district police officers of Larkana and Shikarpur had been asked to gear up efforts for safe recovery of three kidnapped men. Answering a question, he said that the services of the Rangers would be utilized at the time of need as earlier their services had been utilized for stopping water theft.

The Sindh government was trying its level best to equip police with modern equipment and vehicles, he said. He said that his government gave importance to ensure better law and order situation in the province and efforts were being made to curb criminal activities, especially in upper Sindh. The educated youth would be provided jobs on merit, the chief minister said.