Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday ordered a countrywide crackdown on hoarders of wheat on an urgent basis to ensure availability of the commodity at affordable rates.
Chairing a meeting on ensuring adequate supply of wheat and flour across the country at controlled rates, the prime minister directed early finalization of the plan to implement decision on import of wheat to meet future needs. The meeting was attended by Federal Ministers Hamad Azhar and Syed Fakhr Imam, Advisers Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh and Abdul Razzaq Dawood, Special Assistant Dr Shahbaz Gul and other senior officers. The provincial chief secretaries attended the meeting through video-link The Prime Minister directed taking comprehensive and systematic administrative measures to further improve inter-provincial coordination and ensure equitable prices of wheat and flour across the country.
He asked the provincial chief secretaries to ensure zero tolerance policy against adulteration of food commodities and not to make any concessions in this regard.
Prime Minister Imran Khan directed the Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Chief Secretary Balochistan to check smuggling of wheat.
He also asked the Chief Secretary Sindh to urgently finalize the wheat release policy for the province keeping in view the experience of the last year.
The Chief Secretaries of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa gave a briefing on the wheat situation and about the prices of wheat and flour.
The Chief Secretary Punjab said that a 20-kg bag of flour was available at Rs.860 in all cities of the province. The Punjab government is releasing 18,000 tonnes of wheat on a daily basis to ensure ample availability of wheat, while about 20 percent of flour is being sent to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, he said.
He also gave a detailed briefing on the availability and prices of sugar in the province. The Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa briefed the meeting on prevention of wheat smuggling. The meeting also reviewed the availability of sugar at affordable rates.
