Good news for farmers today: minister

A meeting has been called today on the wheat situation in the Punjab province and decisions will be taken keeping the farmers’ demands in view.

Provincial Food Minister Bilal Yasin said that a decision will be taken today on the procurement of wheat and hopefully the farmers will not need to protest as they will be given a good news.

On the other hand, in the absence of any decision from the government, the farmers gave a protest call in front of the provincial assembly tomorrow (Tuesday). They said that the wheat has started turning into dust as there are no customers even on the road and the rain season is just around the corner. Under these circumstances, our crop is likely to spoil soon, the farmers feared.

Kissan Bachao Tehreek leader Sultan Javed, speaking on a local TV show, warned of the protest on Monday and said that farmers are being oppressed in Punjab.

He said that Punjab Food Minister Bilal Yasin has been paying lip service for many days and the solution to farmers’ problems lies only with the Punjab chief minister.

Sultan Javed said that CM Maryam Nawaz is not giving meeting time to the farmers.

It should be noted that the patience of the farmers has run out due to non-procurement of wheat at the official rate in Punjab. Farmers across the province have been forced to take to the streets against the government.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed the federal government to buy wheat from farmers. The government had increased the wheat procurement target from 1.4 million metric tons to 1.8 million metric tons.