LAHORE, Sept 23: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has urged the Punjab government to pay special attention towards the agriculture sector as its development will create more job opportunities.

Addressing a meeting of the Punjab Cabinet here on Thursday, the prime minister said when agriculture developed other sectors related with it would develop automatically.

"Agriculture is also one of our top priorities," he said. He said the branches of micro finance banks were being opened in every district of the Punjab from where the farmers could get agriculture loans on low mark-up.

Shaukat Aziz called for developing dairy and livestock and urged the Punjab government to provide special incentives to farmers in this sector. "The dairy and livestock sector can be developed in a short period. This can help provide jobs to rural population and their living standards will also improve," he said.

The prime minister stressed the need to construct new dams to overcome water shortage and provide enough water for crops. "We will have to decide quickly which dam to construct and where," he said.

He said work to repair Sukkur, Taunsa and Jinnah Barrages was going on at a fast pace. The government undertook repair work urgently so that the agriculture sector does not face any water shortage.

He told the Punjab Cabinet that the government was moving ahead with its agenda of development and had taken a number of steps to stabilize wheat prices. The government has imported wheat to buffer existing stocks and is bringing 200,000 tonnes of sugar in the market from Trading Corporation's stocks to check increase in its price.

He said prices of diesel and petrol directly affect all commodities of daily life and that is why the government has not increased POL prices over the last three months.

Although, he added, there has been an increase of over $45 per barrel in the international market."The government is bearing the extra increase in the prices of diesel so that the people are not burdened."

The prime minister eulogized the Punjab government for carrying out various development projects to help ameliorate the lot of masses. He especially referred to the Punjab Education Programme, Special Education and Public Health in this regard.

He said a lot of development work had been done in the Punjab. However, he said, there are still great challenges being faced by this province. He also appreciated the quality and pace of execution of underpass projects in the Punjab and added that he had referred to the rapid pace of underpass construction i.e. within 90 days on different occasions.

Shaukat Aziz said that no body was ready to believe that an underpass could be constructed in 90 days when he told this at a function during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia.

Staff Reporter Adds: Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi expressed his willingness on Thursday to provide sufficient wheat to other provinces only at official level, reiterating his resolve to disallow the private mafia to rob the province of the commodity.

The moneyed mafia could not be allowed to mop up entire wheat from the Punjab. It was necessary to keep an eye on profiteers and hoarders. Wheat flour was an essential food item which was being supplied in adequate quantity to other provinces on a daily basis, he said.

The chief minister was speaking to the provincial cabinet prior to the speech of the prime minister here. He urged the need for immediately announcing the NFC award to enable the provinces to have better resources for their development and other needs.

The chief minister proposed that alternate water resources and other facilities be provided to farmers till the construction of new water reservoirs. He said research funds had been doubled to improve the quality of agriculture production and increase its volume in the province.

He said the Punjab had benefited from the federal fiscal reforms while formulating its development and welfare-oriented programmes during the last two years. The chief minister said after the tax reforms by the federal government and reconstruction of the CBR, the country had witnessed optimum increase in the volume of taxes which had resulted in trickling down the fiscal benefits to all the provinces.

He welcomed the prime minister and said his election had not only helped strengthen the national economy but also brought it out of uncertainty and the clutches of international financial institutions.

The chief minister mentioned the problems being faced by the agriculture sector and said the federal government in collaboration with the provincial governments should evolve a comprehensive mechanism to fight drought conditions in the country.

He said the provincial government had undertaken a number of measures like legislation for the protection of the rights of people, provision of facilities to developers and reduction in stamp duty for the promotion of the housing industry in the province.

The chief minister said a house construction scheme for government employees costing Rs10 billion during the next two years had been framed which would help provide a lot of job opportunities to the people.

He said the land revenue record was being computerized in all districts under a phased programme which would result in uprooting corruption and tempering of land record.

The chief minister also informed the prime minister about the performance of the provincial assembly and said that during the last two years, 37 bills had been passed which was a record in the assembly's history.