Shehbaz Sharif says seven percent line losses unacceptable n Cabinet decides to provide wheat seeds to flood-hit farmers n PM extends best wishes for Ambassador-designate of Pakistan to France.

ISLAMABAD    -   The federal cabi­net Tuesday decided that the government in collaboration with provinces will ensure the provision of wheat seeds to farmers of flood affected areas.

The decision was tak­en during its meeting held in Islamabad with Prime Minister Sheh­baz Sharif in the chair. For this purpose, the provinces and the fed­eral government will ensure the provision of funds with a contribu­tion of 50 percent.

In this regard, the ECC approved a sup­plementary grant of 3.2 billion rupees to NDMA for procure­ment of wheat seed and distribution to districts identified by the provinces, which was approved by the cabinet.

The federal cabinet gave in-principle ap­proval to extend the project of installation of advanced meters in Islamabad to oth­er parts of the coun­try and also to install advanced meters on transformers to re­duce line losses.

On the recommenda­tion of the Power Divi­sion, the federal cab­inet also approved measures to promote the use of low-cost so­lar energy as an alter­native to expensive im­ported fuel across the country. Considering the av­erage of 7 percent line losses as unsatisfactory, the Prime Minister immediately called for a comprehensive plan to reduce them according to the rate of line losses prevail­ing at the international level. The prime minister direct­ed to prepare recommenda­tions for reform measures in the electricity distribution companies and for this pur­pose, a committee was es­tablished under the chair­manship of Defence Minister Khawaja Asif. The committee will formulate a comprehen­sive action plan after consul­tation within two weeks and submit it to the cabinet. The prime minister informed the cabinet about the details of his visit to Kazakhstan and his participation in interna­tional conferences including the Shanghai Cooperation Or­ganisation, the United Na­tions General Assembly and recently the CICA summit. After discussing agricultural commodities, gas, rail, road, infrastructure and connec­tivity and energy corridors in these meetings, it was de­cided that Pakistan will soon hold a summit meeting of Central Asian states in Islam­abad, in which Central Asian states will be connected from Gwadar and Karachi ports. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Am­bassador-designate to France Asim Iftikhar called on Prime Minister Muhammad Sheh­baz Sharif in Islamabad on Tuesday. Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi also participat­ed in the meeting.