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JHANG, March 6: The government will sell agricultural implements, such as plough, spray machines, sub-soilers, chisel plough, disc plough and land levellers at subsidised prices thrice a week at cheap bazaars in four tehsils of the district.
This was stated by Jhang district coordination officer Muhammad Arif Khan while talking to newsmen here on Friday.
He said the cheap bazaars would provide small farmers access to modern agricultural machinery, which otherwise, they could never purchase in the open market due to their meagre resources.
The DCO said that after obtaining the much-needed equipment at affordable prices, the farmers would be able to play their due role in bringing about a green revolution in the country.
The government, he said, was planning to provide fertilizers and pesticides in these specially organized bazaars at much cheaper prices.
Apart from the agricultural inputs and machinery, he said that these cheap bazaars would also provide essential eatable items such as vegetables, sugar, ghee and pulses at subsidised prices to the common man. Such bazaars would be held at selected venues, easily approachable by low income consumers.
The DCO also announced the launching of sasta atta scheme under which 16,175 flour bags of 20kg each at Rs170 would be supplied to 8,088 selected families in the district. The flour bags would be supplied to them every month through special coupons issued to them by the district government, he added.
CRITICIZED: Political, religious and social circles has severely criticized the Punjab government for its decision to appoint an unelected person as the head of the allotment committee.
The allotment committee has been entrusted with the task of making recommendations for the allotment of state land up to 12-and-a-half-acres per applicant among landless peasants in the district.
The Punjab government had invited applications from landless peasants and tenants for the allotment of thousands of the acres of state land. The Revenue office of the deputy district officer received thousands of applications by Jan 31, the last date for the submission of applications.
Recently, the chief minister's secretariat has through a notification formed committees at the district and tehsil levels for the allotment of land among the deserving applicants.
The district committee is headed by the PML-Q district president Sheikh Muhammad Yaqoob, who does not hold any elected public office. He is assisted by the DDO (Revenue) of the four tehsils as heads of their respective tehsil committees.
The appointment of an unelected person to an office which could give him and the political party of which he is a district president a very substantial political edge over others, has attracted sharp criticism from other political parties.
Mr Yaqoob is a son of known contractor, industrialist and philanthropist Sheikh Muhammad Yousaf, who had been elected MPA in the partyless election of 1995 but he lost in 1988 and vanished from the political scene.
Muhammad Younis, the elder brother of Sheikh Yaqoob, had also contested election from a national assembly seat in 1988 but had to face a crushing defeat.
