Wheat procurement drive yet to pick up momentum
Business
May 6, 2021
LAHORE: Wheat procurement drive in the Punjab province has yet to pick up full momentum and it will be difficult for the provincial food department to achieve maximum buying target of 4.5 million tons, analysts said on Wednesday.
Punjab Food Department bought 2.659 million tons grains in the province till May 4, which is 76 percent of 3.5 million tons minimum target set under the wheat procurement campaign 2021/22. However, the food department will have to go for achieving maximum procurement target of 4.5 million tons given the fact that this volume of wheat is needed to meet eight-month demands of grain from September 2021 to April 2022.
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25pc wheat procurement target achieved, says Aleem Khan
Lahore
April 24, 2021
LAHORE:Punjab Senior Minister Abdul Aleem Khan Friday said that wheat procurement process was in progress in different districts of the province and till now 25 per cent target has been achieved.
He said that the Punjab Food Department has procured more than 800,000 metric tonnes of wheat from farmers while above 51 per cent gunny bags have also been distributed. Aleem Khan said that wheat was being purchased at the rate of Rs 1,800 per maund and hoped that the set target of wheat procurement would be achieved.
Senior minister said that the Food Department was providing the best facilities to farmers at the wheat purchase centres and a report regarding procurement process was also being received on daily basis.
Uniform wheat rate a distant dream
Hundreds of wheat bags still missing from procurement centres
PHOTO: REUTERS
LAHORE:
Despite tall claims of implementing a uniform rate of wheat across the province, the authorities have failed to ensure the government’s rates as substandard wheat was being sold in the open market. As the government restricted the supply of wheat to other provinces, cases of hundreds of missing wheat bags emerged along with bags filled with sand for audit.
Even in the provincial capital Lahore, wheat is being sold between Rs47-Rs52 in different areas. Recently, the Anti-Corruption Establishment detected theft of over 1,700 wheat bags from the procurement centre. The value of missing wheat is estimated to be over Rs10 million. Upon receiving the information, an Anti-Corruption Establishment team raided a warehouse of the food department in Dera Ghazi Khan and arrested Food Inspector Idress Bughlani. The suspect had filled the wheat gunny bags with sand.