LAHORE, June 21: The Punjab government decided at a meeting on Monday to extend its wheat procurement drive till Sept 30 against the earlier deadline of June 30. It had also decided to keep the ban on the movement of wheat and Section 144 in place till procurement to keep the commodity within the province.

The Punjab Food Department would wind up its flag (temporary) centres and reinforce permanent ones, which would now remain open till the new deadline. Spelling out the details, sources in the department said the government wanted to prolong its procurement till the arrival of imported wheat and expiry of loan facility by the State Bank of Pakistan.

According to departmental calculations, they claimed, at least one to 1.5 million tons of wheat was still unaccounted for. If the province had procured 15.5 million tons against the claim of 15.8 million tons, the tradable surplus that should be well over five million tons was not easy to get.

The department had purchased only 2.38 million tons of wheat so far while the Pakistan Agriculture Services and Storage Corporation 700,000 tons, which made the official procurement up to three million tons.

The millers had bought another 700,000 tons and licensed buyers 300,000 tons. It left one to 1.5 million tons missing, they said, adding the department had extended the drive to recover this quantity.

The government had also decided to keep Section 144 in place till Sept 30 or even beyond to ensure that wheat did not go out of the province. They said the move was meant to frustrate those hoarders, who had been hoping for lifting of the ban and minting money.

Once the department reached 2.6 million tons, it would enter a comfortable zone. The NWFP had promised to give it 300,000 tons of wheat in exchange for relaxation of ban on flour movement.

The department, they said, started its procurement season with a carryover of 60,000 tons while Sindh had to pay some 50,000 tons. After getting all its dues, it would touch the figure of three million tons.

They said the price was hovering around Rs375, which was not bad given the fact that millers were now out to buy wheat for grinding. It might rise a bit in the days to come, but it would certainly come down once the department started releasing wheat in October.

The department would certainly start releasing wheat if the price in the private market went abnormally up during the next three months. The sources claimed imported wheat cost around Rs14,000 a ton against the domestic price of Rs9,000.