Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the authorities concerned to form a task force to check and curb the smuggling of wheat and urea.
Presiding over a high-level meeting in Islamabad to tackle the issue of wheat and urea smuggling, the prime minister said that an integrated supply and demand system and strict border control management were essential to curb smuggling and hoarding of urea and wheat in the country. He further said that no negligence would be tolerated in this regard.
The premier directed the agencies concerned to ensure availability of urea and DAP in the market at stable and cheap rates so that the country could become self-sufficient in wheat production. He directed to constitute a task force to curb the hoarding and smuggling of urea and wheat in the country.
The prime minister was briefed that the availability of strategic stock of urea of two hundred thousand tones at the beginning of each month is essential to keep the market prices stable.
Earlier, the federal cabinet accorded approval to the import of 3 million metric tons of wheat.
Briefing media about the decisions taken by the federal cabinet, which met with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the chair, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said the prime minister also directed to introduce an incentivised agricultural policy to enable the country to curtail wheat import.
She said that the cabinet also decided to continue the fixed rates of flour and sugar under the Ramazan package. Under the package, the price of a 20 kg bag of flour was reduced from Rs950 to Rs800 and the price of sugar from Rs85 per kg to Rs70 per kg.
The minister said that the cabinet has completely banned the export of sugar to ensure the smooth supply of sugar in the country at affordable price. She said sufficient stock of sugar was available in the country to meet the demand till the completion of this season.
