Amidst a wheat farming crisis, Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday approved Rs15 billion for Punjab wheat farmers under the Kisan Card programme.
Earlier, wheat farmers in Lahore threatened to march towards capital city if the government did not accept their demands of fixing the wheat prices at Rs4,000 per 40KG bag.
Wheat farmers across Punjab are protesting against what they say are unjust wheat support prices and poor government procurement policies.
CM Maryam Nawaz also announced the exemption of farmers from the fixed tax on wheat farmers during current fiscal year.
Furthermore, the provincial government also decided to implement Electronic Warehouse Receipt (EWR) system which will provide the farmers ability to store harvested crops under the EWR system.
“Within 24 hours, this receipt can be given to the bank to obtain a loan up to 70 percent of the total cost.”
It has also been decided that the provincial government will pay a markup of loans which were obtained from Bank of Punjab upto Rs100 billion to mills for wheat purchase.
The wheat farmers will receive direct financial support through Kisan Card. The Punjab government termed the package as an unprecedented step in Punjab’s history.
To avert the heat crisis, the government also decided to allow the purchase of wheat by flour mills and green license holders pending approval from provincial cabinet.
In order to provide further relief to the farmers, the government has also lifted the ban on transportation of wheat beyond province.
“Farmers are our brothers, we stand with them and will remain so,” Maryam Nawaz stated expressing her commitment that the government is working for the benefit of Punjab’s farmers.
Read more: Arrested suspects attacked KFC Rawalpindi for their TikTok pages
In a significant development, CPO Rawalpindi Syed Khalid Hamdani, while holding a press conference on Tuesday, revealed that the assailants attacked KFC Rawalpindi Saddar branch to increase their TikTok viewership. On April 13, a video depicting a group of young men entering the KFC Rawalpindi Saddar branch while hurling abuses at the employees and shouting at the customers became viral on social media.
The families, including women and children, hurriedly started fleeing the KFC Rawalpindi Saddar branch as the panic spread quickly. The incident took place on April 13 in KFC Rawalpindi Saddar branch. Previously, Miscreants belonging to right-wing religious party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) were arrested on Tuesday following a mob attack on Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC Pakistan) in Karachi’s DHA.
