Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Monday directed the concerned departments to prepare and submit an action plan immediately to ensure uninterrupted supply of urea on priority basis.
He also ordered to ensure supply of urea fertilizer to the farmers at government control rate and submit a report in this regard by tomorrow (Tuesday).
“To ensure uninterrupted supply of urea fertilizer during crop sowing, a comprehensive framework should be prepared and presented in consultation with the provinces and the relevant industry,” he said while chairing an emergency review meeting regarding demand and supply, and price of urea fertilizer in the country.
During the meeting, the prime minister asked the district administration to take immediate action against the hoarders of the fertilizer and identify and punish those responsible.
He said the government subsidy on urea fertilizer must be extended to the deserving farmers.
The prime minister directed the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Food Security to provide the production and supply statistics of urea fertilizer to the provincial governments to ensure cooperation in operations to prevent hoarding of fertilizer.
He said fertilizer transportation should be monitored on all provincial borders, and the fertilizer which is meant to meet the provincial requirement should not be obstructed in any way.
He said all provinces should bear the burden of subsidy on urea fertilizer in proportion to their own consumption.
Earlier, a detailed briefing was given in the meeting on the recent production, demand and supply of urea fertilizer to farmers in the country.
The meeting was told that the production and stock of urea in the country was sufficient for the recent wheat crop. Whereas 220,000 metric tons of urea is being imported for buffer stock, the first batch of which would reach Pakistan by next week.
In the meeting, the chief secretaries of the four provinces also gave a briefing on the steps taken by the district administration to ensure the supply of fertilizers to the farmers at government concessional prices.
The meeting was informed that the summaries to provide subsidy from the provinces would be presented in the cabinets of all the provinces for approval very soon.
Caretaker Ministers Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Captain (retd) Shahid Ashraf Tarrar, Dr Kausar Abdul Mulk, Muhammdad Ali, relevant high officials and chief secretaries of all the provinces attended the meeting.
