Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan Wednesday said the government before taking any step regarding South Punjab would consult all the stakeholders.

He was presiding over a meeting held here to review the progress of development projects in Bahawalpur Division and performance and construction of the South Punjab Secretariat. The prime minister said since water was a basic need of human, all problems relating to water should be resolved in view of the importance of agriculture sector in the region. He said the record revenue collection for the first time in terms of taxes depicted the masses’ confidence in government. The prime minister further said the provision of education and health facilities as well as improvement in basic infrastructure was the foremost priority of the present government.

On this occasion, members of the national and provincial assemblies belonging to the area presented different proposals for the resolution of problems faced by the people in various districts of Bahawalpur Division. During the meeting, the prime minister was briefed in detail about the overall situation in Bahawalpur Division including economic, social, education, health, basic infrastructure, especially agricultural production.

Separately, while addressing Kissan Convention here, Prime Minister Imran Khan described farmers as an ‘asset’ for the country and said the present government was following a vision to double their income to achieve higher economic growth, ensure food security and check poverty and inflation. “We have a vision to double the income of farmers.

They will invest their income in agriculture, which will benefit Pakistan and help reduce poverty, decrease prices of food items and check price-hike,” Imran Khan said.

The prime minister mentioned with pride that owing to the government’s policy enhancing support prices of various agricultural crops including wheat, sugarcame and maize, the growers secured Rs 1100 billions of additional income during the previous fiscal years. He further said that with the initial two years spent on economic stabilization due to various inherited challenges on the economic front, his government had finally put the country on the path of economy recovery and achieved around 4% GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth during the fiscal year 2020-21.

Imran Khan said that as farmers were the country’s precious asset, today’s Kissan Convention will send a clear message that the country will move forward by helping the farmers. He said that with a mere 26000 growers having the agricultural lands of over 125 acres each, the country had around 8.4 million of hardworking small farmers, who were the core of this country as well as the agriculture sector.

The prime minister noted with pleasure that contrary to the past, when sugarcane growers had to sell their produce at lower rates due to exploitation by the powerful sugar millers, the growers this year got higher prices and earned extra profits due to the passage of a law which bounded the sugar millers to start crushing of the produce at particular dates. He said that the unprecedented higher sales of motorcycle in the rural areas also depicted increase in the income of farmers.