LAHORE: The Punjab government has decided to launch a crackdown on fertilizer hoarders and profiteers, and issued instructions to all divisional commissioners in this regard.
Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal said this while presiding over a meeting at Civil Secretariat, here on Friday. The administrative secretaries of various departments including agriculture, food and industries attended the meeting, while all divisional commissioners participated through video-link.
The chief secretary said that no one could be allowed to exploit farmers, adding that those who were minting money by creating an artificial shortage of fertilisers would be dealt with an iron hand.
He said that the persons involved in hoarding of fertilisers did not deserve any leniency as they were “culprits of the whole nation”. He said that the government would protect the interests of farmers in any case. He said that at present urea fertilizer was in abundance in the country but dealers were creating artificial shortage by storing it in warehouses. He warned that stern action would be taken against them.
The chief secretary asked the officers to start a crackdown on the pattern of administrative measures taken to check sugar hoarding. He said that teams comprising officials of the district administration, police, and agriculture department would check the fertilizer warehouses, besides obtaining the stock position from dealers daily. He warned that strict action would be taken against those involved in hoarding and profiteering under the law and the recovered stocks would be sold in the market at the fixed price.
The CS also issued instructions regarding assigning duties to the Special Branch for providing information to the district administration about the hoarding of fertilizers.