A meeting was held in the civil secretariat under the chairmanship of Caretaker Provincial Minister of Industry, Commerce and Energy SM Tanveer in which Caretaker Provincial Minister Excise and Taxation and Food Bilal Afzal, Special Secretary Food, Director Food and concerned officers participated. During the meeting, the RFPs and tendering process for wheat commodity financing for April-June 2023 was reviewed. Wheat procurement campaign, flour subsidy for poor people and other issues were also discussed in the meeting.
Provincial Minister of Industry and Commerce SM Tanveer while addressing the meeting said that the people will be given maximum relief in a short period of time. Caretaker government wants to serve the public in a short period of time. He said that every section of the society benefits from the subsidy, while the purpose of the subsidy is to provide relief to the poor.
The caretaker government is fully focused on targeted subsidy so that the deserving get their right. Provincial Excise and Taxation and Food Minister Bilal Afzal told the meeting that a subsidy of Rs. 700 per maund is being given on wheat, while after the official wheat subsidy; it is being sold at Rs. 2300 per maund. He said that Punjab already owes 600 billion rupees for the purchase of wheat. This year, the Punjab government will have to allocate another 400 billion rupees for the purchase of wheat. Punjab will have to allocate about 200 billion rupees to pay the interest rate and this will cause the Punjab government to default. The only solution to avoid default is to subsidize only the poor and the IMF has also recommended subsidizing only the poor.
