LAHORE After initiating a crackdown on sugar hoarders, the Punjab government on Saturday started checking stocks of pulses throughout the province to avoid hoarding and artificial shortage.
 
The government also plans to check tomato and potato stocks to ensure their cheap availability.

According to a source in the Punjab government, 'the pre-emptive stocktaking' is aimed at assessing stocks. He clarified that no stocks would be seized and that no one would be harassed during the exercise.

'The provincial government just wants to keep itself abreast of the availability position,' says one of the participants of the Saturday meeting which decided to expand the stocktaking operation. The list of items to be checked might be expanded if need be, he said.

There were reports that hoarding of pulses was also going on ahead of Ramazan, and the government, instead of waiting for any crisis, had decided to go for assessing the stocks.

'The stocktaking will help avoid strict administrative measures at later stages,' he hoped.

According to him, the entire attention of the provincial government is current focused on the supply of essentials during Ramazan.

'The Punjab government will be spending a staggering amount of Rs8 billion in the 30-day Ramazan Package - Rs6.7 billion on the supply of cheap flour and around Rs1.3 billion on sugar. This shows the seriousness of the government to the cause. Any sector or individual trying to rig the market will surely come under the administrative hammer. The sugar mafia is currently suffering, and any other adventurer will also face the music.'

He said the government would start releasing wheat from its official stocks at a price of Rs305 per 40kg to millers in order to ensure Rs10 per kilogram flour, says an official of the Food Department.

The department had purchased this wheat at a rate of Rs950, while the federal government had fixed the release price at Rs1,035 - including incidental charges.

By that calculation, the government would be subsidizing wheat by Rs730 per 40kg. A flour miller said official decisions were hard to decipher or define with logic.

He said the Punjab government had allocated Rs8 billion for sasti roti scheme for the entire year and another Rs7 billion under the Food Stamp Scheme. Now it would be exhausting half that amount in one month.

'One cannot rule out political mileage through such decisions as well,' he said and added 'The Punjab government seems to be expecting mid-term elections any time soon.'