SIALKOT/SARGODHA
The Punjab government has decided to depute grade 16 and 17 officials for special monitoring of the 43 wheat procurement centres in Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and Gujranwala districts.
However, government will directly purchase the wheat yield from the growers in Hafizabad district. Gujranwala Division Deputy Director Food Ch Naveed Ashraf disclosed this while talking to the newsmen here after visiting several wheat procurement centres at Sialkot, Daska, Sambrial, Pasrur and surrounding areas.
He said that the purpose of deputing grade 16 and 17 officials was to ensure the transparent wheat procurement directly from the small growers and to curb the menace of the middlemen and protect the rights of the growers.
He said that the officials would monitor the entire wheat procurement and issuance of gunny bags to the growers. He said that the officials’ lists from the district coordination officers of the districts had already been sought for the purpose.
Mr Ashraf revealed that the senior officials would perform their special duties at the centres from April 20, 2014 to June 15, 2014, which would dispatch their daily reports about the issuance of the gunny bags and wheat procurement to their related DCOs.
He said that the issuance of the gunny bags to the wheat growers would start from April 15 in the districts, while the procurement will begin from April 20 as all the necessary arrangements have been made for the purpose.
On the other hand, the middlemen are very active in the field before the start of the official wheat procurement, as they were busy motivating the wheat growers to sell their wheat yield in the open markets instead of selling it at the centres established by the food department to purchase the wheat.
The wheat growers are also giving priority to sell their wheat yield in the local open market. They said that support wheat price was much less than the expenditures of the wheat cultivation including high prices of oil and seeds. In Sargodha, the Food Department has fixed a target of 3,360,000 sacks of wheat for annual procurement of 2014-15 across the Sargodha Division.
Sargodha Division Deputy Director Food Maqbool Ahmed Majooka on Wednesday told the media that 36 wheat purchase centres have also been established in districts Sargodha, Khushab, Mianwali and Bhakkar of Sargodha Division. He further said that the department officers had been directed to facilitate the growers to attract them to the government wheat purchase centres. He said that the distribution of bags to the cultivators and farmers would start on April 15.
Toll free number 0800-48048 has been established for complaint or obtaining information, he added.