NAUSHAHRO FEROZE, March 31: Small wheat growers are in trouble as no temporary wheat procurement centre has been established in the district like previous practice of several years.

According to new directives of the Government of Sindh, there will be no agent in between growers and the department for purchasing of wheat.

The wheat will be purchased at seven permanent godowns of the food department in the district.

The rate of wheat in the open market as on Friday came down to Rs625 per bag as against the rate of Rs750 per bag fixed by the government.

As per directives from high officials of the food department, the growers were to submit their request application for wheat sale along with their revenue receipts and NIC cards to the concerned revenue Mukhtiarkars upto March 30.

The Mukhtiarkar, after verification by the concerned Tapedar, will issue a certificate accordingly and send the same along with the application to the district food controller.

Meanwhile, Mukhtiarkars of Kandiaro and Bhirya have received the applications in small number i.e. upto 150 to 2000 from each taluka.

An official of the DFC office told this correspondent that the district food office has received about 160 applications from Mukhtiarkar of Kandiaro, 200 from Moro, 150 from Bhirya and 400 applications from Mukhtiarkar of Naushahro Feroze.

He disclosed that the concerned Mukhtiarkars avoided to issue certificates as required for sale of wheat, therefore, the food department has received the applications directly from the growers and total applications from Kandiaro Taluka are 370, Bhirya about 400, Moro 700 and Naushahro Feroze Taluka 700.

He further said that according to these 2,170 offers, the arrival of wheat is estimated as 1.3 million bags as against the target of 0.375 bags.

A survey revealed that many wheat growers were not in knowledge that, they were to submit an application to the Mukhtiarkar for sale of wheat.

Several growers feel that only big growers will be benefited from this complicated new procedure, as they have good terms with revenue officials and high-ups.

The growers are afraid that the present price might further come down in case the government has not taken proper measures for the purchase of wheat.

However, the space for storing the wheat is also a big problem as the district food department of Naushahro Feroze is already having last year’s stock of wheat to the extent of 0.650 million bags out of which about 0.450 million bags are lying under open sky and outside the godowns.

RALLY: The activists of the Sindhi Awami Tehrik staged a protest rally here on Sunday against the Thal canal project.