SIALKOT
The high-ups have reshuffled 100 employees of the Food Department including assistant food controllers to ensure transparency in the process of issuance of gunny bags and official wheat procurement in in Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin and Gujranwala districts.
Moreover, the Food Department has announced seven-day further delay in wheat procurement and issuing the gunny bags to the growers. Now the wheat procurement will start from May 1, 2015 instead of April 25 while the government would start issuance of the gunny bags from April 25 instead of April 20 in Gujranwala Division.
According to Food Gujranwala Division Deputy Director Ch Muhammad Ajmal, it had established 43 official wheat procurement centres in Gujranwala Division - nine centres in Sialkot, six in Narowal, five in Gujrat, six in Mandi Bahauddin and 18 in Gujranwala district.
He said that the department stored 3,966,677 gunny bags in its all 150 official godowns in the region, where the spray of the pesticides would be started from April 22nd, 2015 and after the spray these godowns would be closed for next three days.
Special training for the coordinators deputed at 43 official wheat procurement centres had already been completed. The experts and senior high-ups of the department gave the necessary training to all the Grade 17 and 18 senior officials from health, agriculture cooperative departments and the local TMAs, which had been deputed as coordinators at all centres for a period of the next three months. This year, the Punjab government has fixed a target of 4,320,000 bags of wheat purchasing from this region.
DIRECTIVES: All the 22 MNAs and 44 MPAs in Gujranwala Division have been asked by the government to submit the lists of their proposed development schemes to the DCOs concerned and district heads of the departments to start work on these schemes.
The government has also asked the parliamentarians to keep focus on the repairing and construction of the small roads, streets, provision of potable drinking water, drainage of water, upgradation of the schools and health dispensaries and affixation of the street lights.
Official sources added that the motive behind the step was to ensure completion of maximum development schemes before the Local Government polls in Punjab expected to be held in September 2015. Senior officials added that the government had also directed the DCOs to ensure early approval and clearance of development schemes ensuring the removal of all the hurdles in this regard.