Due To Heavy Rains, About 1.3 Million Tonnes Of Wheat Crop Had Been Damaged In Punjab

The special assistant said the cabinet was briefed about the damages to the wheat crop caused by untimely rains and thunderstorms

Lahore, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Jun, 2019 ) :The special assistant said the cabinet was briefed about the damages to the wheat crop caused by untimely rains and thunderstorms. Due to heavy rains, about 1.3 million tonnes of wheat crop had been damaged. Despite the loss, the total wheat production this year would be 24.3 million tonnes, which along with the last year's stocks of 3.7 million tonnes would be enough to meet the needs of the country.

The cabinet was told that during the tenure of present government, farmers received good support price for the crops of rice, sugarcane and wheat. The farmers sold their wheat stocks at the rate of Rs 1,300 per maund and sugarcane for Rs 180 per maund for the first time in the country's history.

The cabinet expressed concern that as yet the purchase of wheat by the government had not started in Sindh, while a big scandal in that regard had also surfaced in the province. It was revealed that sand and stones were found in the sacks instead of wheat. The cabinet was told that the matter was being investigated. The federal government had increased the quota of PASSCO for the purchase of wheat in Sindh.

The cabinet was also informed that the federal government had approved the posting of Attique Ahmed as Secretary Federal board of Intermediate and Secondary education.

It also approved the Cash Management and Treasury Single Account Policy 2019 with the aim to effectively manage the cash and loans of the government. Till now there was no policy regarding cash held by the government and there was no method for proper invoicing.

After the cabinet's approval, trillions of rupees held by departments for getting interest would be available in a central pool and information about the cash flow of the government would be transparent and visible and could be shared with the public.

The report regarding implementation of this policy would be presented to the cabinet which in principle had approved the public finance management bill.

The cabinet approved that for one time the visas of Chinese experts and professionals working on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project would be changed from visit to work visas. The aim of the relaxation was to facilitate the Chinese citizens so that pace of work on the projects in Pakistan was not affected.

The cabinet instructed the Ministry of Planning that a policy should be formulated to ensure jobs for Pakistani workers and skilled labour force in different projects of CPEC.

The waiver of fine amounting to $ 450,000 on foreign students studying in Jamia Banuri was also approved. The fines were imposed as the students overstayed on their expired visas. However, they did not have the money to pay the fine.

The posting of Raja Jawad Abbas Hassan, District and Sessions Judge as Judge Special Court (Anti-Terrorist-I) Islamabad was also approved.

The cabinet ratified the decisions taken in the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee on May 30, 2019.