Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Punjab chapter President Imtiaz Safdar Warraich said the PPP was holding talks with all political parties, including the PML-Q, as part of its policy of reconciliation. Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club on Saturday, he said the PPP was holding successful dialogue with all political parties for the continuity of democracy. Warraich was of the view that democracy was the only way to progress and development. Warraich said the PPP leadership believed in dialogue and reconciliation, which was why various political parties were part of government, he added.
Criticising the Punjab government’s policy of wheat procurement, Warraich said the Punjab government failed to purchase wheat on time, which had disappointed the farmers. He said that no-one would be permitted to exploit the poor growers and the PPP would raise the issue with members of the Punjab Assembly. He said the chief minister has left the farmers in the lurch at a time when the wheat crop was being harvested. “Not a single storage centre was established after the recent floods. The target of procuring 3.5 million to 4 million tons of wheat is a mockery of the farmers of the fertile land of Punjab,” he said.
Warraich said that every grower was aware of the fact that one acre yielded 60 maunds of wheat on average, but the government, he said, was ‘predicting’ 20 maunds per acre, which clearly showed that it had no plans to procure all of the wheat produced by farmers, he added. “It is the duty of the government to purchase even a single grain of wheat, but its intentions are clear that it won’t buy more that 2 million tons, thus once again putting a huge amount of the crop at risk,” he said. “Exploitation of the farmers should be stopped.” He also showed dissatisfaction over the distribution of gunny sacks to farmers. He claimed that the government was distributing it with the help of PML-N workers who were taking commission from farmers.
He said the farmers were being forced to sell wheat at Rs 850 per 40 kg instead of Rs 950 per 40 kg, the price fixed by the government. PPP Punjab officer bearers including Sami Ullah Khan, Usman Malik, Dr Fakhar Uddin, Aurang Zeb Barki, and others were present.
Stop exploiting the poor farmers, Warraich asks CM
