Punjab caretaker Chief Minister (CM) Najam Sethi presided over the first meeting of caretaker provincial cabinet at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat on Saturday. Provincial ministers, chief secretary, secretaries and officials concerned attended the meeting.
The provincial caretaker cabinet gave approval to the wheat procurement campaign 2013-14 in the province during the meeting. Addressing the meeting, CM Najam said that farmers would be given due return of their produce during the wheat procurement campaign, adding that the campaign would be carried out in a transparent manner. He said that the process of distribution of gunny bags among the farmers would also be transparent and impartial. He warned that in case of any complaints, strict disciplinary action would be taken against the officials concerned.
The caretaker CM said that the Punjab government had fixed 40 lakh metric tonnes as wheat procurement target. He said that all arrangements have been completed in this regard and the process of distribution of gunny bags among the farmers would start from 15th April throughout the province, whereas, formal purchase of wheat would start from 20th April. He directed the officials concerned that the process of distribution of gunny bags among farmers should be completely transparent and impartial and its provision to small farmers should be ensured on priority basis. He disclosed that 376 wheat procurement centres have been set up throughout the province out of which 183 were flag centres, whereas, 193 were formal storage centres.
The caretaker CM said that the provincial caretaker cabinet had decided that the role of middleman should be strongly discouraged during the wheat procurement campaign for providing maximum benefit to the farmers.
Furthermore, he said that complaint centres regarding wheat procurement would be established at provincial, district and division level where farmers could freely register their complaints. He added that the complaint centres would take immediate notice of any complaint lodged b the farmers and would remove it on priority basis.
Moreover, CM Najam said that wheat procurement campaign would be monitored on a daily basis and procurement centres would remain open from 8 am to 5 pm without any break. The caretaker CM directed the officials concerned that the Food Department should work on war footing to ensure that the wheat procurement campaign proved successful.
CM Najam also said that the basic responsibility of the caretaker government was to ensure holding of transparent and impartial elections in the province and vowed that the caretaker government would discharge its national responsibility efficiently. He further said that the law and order situation in the province would be further improved and the ongoing development projects would not be shut own.
The caretaker CM said that they have not assumed offices for any accountability but to hold the general elections on time. He said that the interim government should discharge its official responsibility impartially and ensure that elections were held in a transparent manner according to the principles evolved by Election Commission.
During the meeting, Food Department secretary gave a briefing to the caretaker cabinet regarding the arrangements made for wheat procurement campaign and informed that monitoring committees have been constituted at tehsil and district levels which would review the procurement campaign on a daily basis. District Coordination Officers concerned would be the head of the monitoring committee at district levels whereas complaint cells have been setup at the Secretariat of the Food Department for immediate redressal of the complaints of farmers. Meanwhile, Finance Department Secretary informed the cabinet about the preparations of budget for the new fiscal year.