QUETTA:
Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo on Saturday expressed his concern over the decrease in gas pressure and unannounced load shedding and said that provincial government would join the local residents in their protest if the matter is not solved.
He said that the issue has been raised with the authorities of Sui Southern Gas Company several times, but unfortunately there was no effect on them.
The chief minister has warned that if the gas issues were not resolved immediately, he reserves the right to protest vigorously.
The CM further said that the federal government should solve the issue of gas pressure immediately, otherwise the government would also be forced to join the local residents and join their protest.
He said that due to the protest over the non-availability of gas and electricity, the provincial government was also facing problems despite the fact that this issue was related to the federation, the reputation of the provincial government in front of the people was also affected.
The chief minister has said that he was determined to reduce the hardships of the people during Ramazan. He said that it has been decided to provide ration to 100,000 poor families throughout the province during Ramazan in the next few days, and distribution of ration would be started through PDMA and district administration.
Bizenjo issued strict instructions to all the concerned institutions to control the inflation, which also includes orders to take strong action against the high street vendors.
Meanwhile, on the directions of CM Bizenjo, the support price of wheat in the province was made equal with other provinces. The support price of wheat is set at a minimum of Rs4,000 per 40 kg.
The objective of this initiative is to increase the production of wheat by encouraging and providing financial support to the farmers in the province, said a press release issued here. Earlier, Rs6 billion was released to the food department for purchasing of wheat during the current fiscal year.
The provincial finance department would release an additional Rs2 billion to the food department in the same regard.
It added that last year, the provincial government had provided free wheat seeds worth more than Rs2 billion to the farmers. Meanwhile, preparations for the timely purchase of wheat by the food department have been completed.
For this matter, 23 centres are established in four zones to purchase wheat under the supervision four deputy project directors and 23 Center in-charges.
According to the press release, the notification of the appointment of the project director would be issued by tomorrow.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 26th, 2023.
Source link: https://tribune.com.pk/story/2408238/bizenjo-concerned-at-low-gas-pressure