LAHORE: Kisan Board Pakistan (KBP) announced on Friday to stage demonstration at all the district headquarters of the province against the delay in procurement of wheat by the government agencies.

Addressing a press conference, KBP Chief Sardar Zafar Hussain Khan alleged that government agencies were deliberately delaying the procurement of grain and private sector was buying wheat at prices of its liking. He said Rs3900 per maund was approved rate by the government but delay in procurement by government had caused price crash in the open market.

He demanded that the government should fix the wheat support price at Rs5000 per maund while the provincial food department should fix the procurement target at 5 million tons.

Meanwhile, according to the spokesman of the provincial food department the scrutiny process of applications filed by the growers for wheat procurement was under way. He said this scrutiny was being carried out by the Punjab Land Record Authority (PLRA) and the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB). He said the food department had no role in this scrutiny and growers having only six acres of land were eligible to apply for procurement.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024