KARACHI  - Sindh Cabinet on Thursday fixed the support price of 40kg wheat at Rs2200 for the next the next year.

The provincial cabinet session chaired by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah approved the price and expressed hope that the growers would produce more wheat this year. Wheat production is expected to be 27.5 million metric tonnes in the country in 2021-22, the cabinet was briefed.

The cabinet decided to enhance the wheat support price in view of the hike in fertiliser price and other agriculture inputs. Last year, the provincial government had fixed the support price of 40kg wheat at Rs2,000. 

EVM Machine: Talking about EVM machines, Murad Ali Shah said that the Federal government had failed to operate its electronic Vote Count system installed in the National Assembly, therefore it would be able to operate its EVMs. 

In the last general election, the Result Transmission System (RTS) had failed and various election results had become controversial, he said and added that now the PTI government had embarked upon another `fishy’ EVM system, he was surprised.

Voting right to overseas

 The Chief Minister said that his party was not against giving the right of vote to the overseas Pakistanis, but they would have to come here in their constituency to cast their vote. “The families living abroad for the last many years and have become national there and don’t know the ground reality of the country have been given the right to vote from abroad is against the principles of democracy,” he added.

Mr Shah said: “PTI believes that the overseas Pakistanis have no idea how much bad governance it has given to the nation, how much inflation it has caused in the country and how it has destabilised important institutions, therefore they would give them vote to power,” he said and added, “President Aisf Zardari has rightly pointed out that the seed the PTI has sown its fruits would be enjoyed by someone else.”   

Subsidy on fertiliser

The provincial cabinet approved a Federal government programme to offer subsidies to the farmers on phosphate fertiliser during the Rabi Crop 2021-22 on the 50:50 basis.

The Federal government has approved that the ratio of subsidy would be 50:50 by Federal and provincial governments. Sindh has 21.6 percent share in the national population, therefore its share in the subsidy would be 5.6 billion. If the outreach comes to 60 percent its share would be 3.3 percent and it would have to give its share of Rs1.65 billion and the remaining Rs1.65 billion to be borne by the Federal government.

Advisor on Agriculture Manzoor Wassan told the cabinet that during current season 2021-22, the rate of DAP was about Rs8,500 per bag as compared to Rs3,800 during 2020-21. The subsidy would be given to small growers of one to 16 acres of land. The provincial cabinet approved the subsidy of Rs1.65 billion as its 50 percent share.

Land Resumed

The Chief Minister told the media that the cabinet had directed the irrigation department to surrender the land which was not required to it for any essential/operational purpose.

Mr Shah said that the Irrigation department had surrendered 48 acres along the embankments of Rice Canal in Larkana city. He added that with passage of time 19 colonies with 1500 houses and more than 4000 population had emerged along the rice canal embankments.  The CM said that the Irrigation department had surrendered its 48 acre land which had been allotted to Katchi abadies to regularise the colonies as per its policy framework. He added that a similar exercise was conducted in other districts and cities of the province so that human settlements could be protected from being displaced.