LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif said on Saturday that wheat procurement campaign was continuing successfully in Punjab and 2.5 million metric tons wheat has been purchased from the farmers till now.
Presiding over a high level meeting which reviewed in detail the progress of wheat procurement campaign in the province, he said that due to farmer-friendly policy of Punjab government, farmers were getting due return of their hard work and more than Rs 80 billion have been paid to them during wheat procurement campaign so far.
Shahbaz Sharif said that interests of farmers will be protected in future as well and hoped that the target fixed for wheat procurement will be achieved with the grace of Almighty Allah.
He said the Punjab government was benefiting from modern technology for making wheat procurement campaign transparent in the province and electronic data of 206,000 farmers has been compiled.
The chief minister said that distribution of gunny bags was continuing transparently under a devised policy. He saidthat interests of farmers will be protected and middle-men will not be allowed to exploit them.
Secretary Food gave a detailed briefing about the progress of Wheat Procurement Campaign 2015-16. Provincial Ministers Bilal Yasin, Dr Farrukh Javed, Chief Secretary, MD PASSCO and concerned officials attended the meeting.
