ISLAMABAD (Dunya News/Web Desk) – Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday ordered a comprehensive and transparent probe into the caretaker government’s decision concerning wheat import scandal – a move that has triggered a full-blown crisis in the country as farmers are now forced to sell their produce at cheaper rates.
It was the caretaker government which allowed the grain imports notwithstanding the fact that the imminent wheat crop harvest and ample stocks available in Pakistan, especially in Punjab – the country’s food basket.
As Cabinet Secretary Kamran Ali Agha – who is heading the second inquiry committee to investigate scandal – reached the PM Office, sources say Shehbaz directed him to fix the responsibility in unambiguous terms and furnish the report by Monday.
In this regard, the prime minister ordered the federal secretary to use the available record and documents while also presenting recommendations on the subject.
On the other hand, the sources say a committee meeting is in the session despite Saturday being a weekly holiday, which will go through a report filed by a panel formed earlier to ascertain the facts.
The move coincides with a PML-N gathering to be held at the party’s Model Town headquarters in Lahore to define a strategy to deal with the prevailing wheat procurement crisis.
HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE
Earlier on Friday, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif, who is all set to assume the party president office yet again, decided to hold accountable the persons behind the crisis in the country, as he chaired a meeting attended by Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and senior party leaders Rana Sanaullah, Khawaja Asif and others.
During the meeting, Punjab Food Minister Bilal Yasin gave a briefing which mentioned that the responsibility lied with those who imported wheat.
PROTEST POSTPONED
Farmers in Punjab have decided to postpone their planned protest against the government failure to buy the harvested wheat at the announced minimum support price of Rs3,900 per 40 kilogramme, as the sources cited the pressure the growers have been facing over the move.
The decision comes despite the Punjab government’s inability to procure the commodity and ensure provision of gunny bags used to pack and store the wheat even after the passage of 15 days.
With the government’s wheat procurement campaign unable to even take off, the private sector is offering much lower wheat prices as the farmers are forced to sell their produce while being at the mercy of middlemen who define the market forces.
It is said that the farmers are getting a price of Rs2,800 to Rs3,200 for 40 kilogrammes of wheat against the promised support price of Rs3,900.