While the Sindh government is presently going through a severe wheat crisis in the holy month of Ramadan that can further worsen in the days to come, the federal government is allegedly delaying the abolishment of 5 percent Withholding Tax on wheat import.
The representatives of all four provinces – Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – made a strong request before the federal government to immediately bring the present five percent Withholding Tax on import of wheat commodity to zero percent so that wheat could be imported on urgent basis, well placed sources at food department told Pakistan Today.
In this regard, the secretaries of all four provinces met with the officials of the Ministry of Industries and Production on June 28, 2013 in which it was requested that the Withholding Tax on wheat import should be brought down to zero percent, keeping the present situation in mind.
This year, the Sindh government had fixed wheat procurement target at 1.4 million metric tones. However, it could not be achieved following the mismanagement by the district government i.e. commissioners, deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners during procurement season that started from March and lasted up till May 2013, sources added.
Usually, the food directors used to distribute wheat bag (barbara) to the growers, but this year the job was undertaken by the district governments that resulted in the missing of wheat procurement target by a good margin.
When contacted, Secretary Food Naseer Jamali told Pakistan Today that his department had requested the federal government to bring the existing five percent Withholding Tax on wheat import to zero percent. Besides, the other three provinces also made the same demand. However, the federal authorities were dillydallying the matter that could result in a serious wheat crisis emerging in the province, the secretary added.
