Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday directed the authorities concerned to prepare an action plan for the privatisation of the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Cooperation (PASSCO).
The prime minister, chairing a meeting to discuss the matters related to the Ministry of National Food Security and Research and PASSCO, also instructed to carry out the restructuring of the Wheat Board.
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, in his budget speech, indicated that the government would no longer be involved in commodity purchases.
The PM emphasised that the restructured Wheat Board should include representatives of farmers, the Land Information Management System and PASSCO. He called for taking effective measures to enhance the yield of wheat and other crops.
He ordered the relevant authorities to formulate an alternate strategy for wheat procurement by the federal government and hold consultation with the provincial governments and also those of Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, as well as relevant departments.
The participants of the meeting were briefed about the ToRs and restructuring of the Wheat Board, and also on increasing the crops yield as well as reforms in the PASSCO.
Federal cabinet members including Ahad Khan Cheema, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Attaullah Tarar, and Ali Pervaiz Malik, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Jahanzeb Khan, PM’s Coordinator Rana Ehsan Afzal and relevant senior officers attended the meeting.
