MULTAN:On the orders of caretaker Chief Minister Punjab, Mohsin Naqvi, cotton growing districts have been assigned to administrative secretaries of South Punjab to monitor cotton crop management to secure good production results.
Additional Chief Secretary South Punjab Capt.(Retd).Saqib Zafar has issued a notification in this regard, says an official release issued on Monday.
While secretaries of agriculture department Punjab and South Punjab were already on toes, the authorities thought it better to specifically assign the cotton monitoring task district wise to administrative secretaries to supplement the team so that country may not face the shockingly dismal cotton production figures witnessed last season when country’s production recorded a mere 4.9 million bales, the lowest ever in Pakistan history.
According to the instructions given in the notification, the administrative secretaries will provide support to the concerned district administration and agriculture department to make ongoing exercise of cotton crop management more effective besides checking the functioning of Kisan Centers at the tehsil level and the availability of fertilizers at notified rates.
Secretaries will also check Clean Cotton-Picking Campaign, management of IPM demonstration plots, and availability of pesticides. Besides, the secretaries will send weekly report to Additional Chief Secretary South Punjab, Secretary Agriculture Lahore, Secretary Agriculture South Punjab and the commissioners concerned.
According to the notification, secretary Forest South Punjab will monitor cotton crop in Multan district and secretary Housing in Khanewal while secretary School Education has been aasigned district Vehari and secretary Irrigation has been alloted Lodhran district. Moreover, secretary Specialized Health care will monitor cotton crop in district Bahawalpur, secretary livestock in district Bahawalnagar, secretary C&W in Rahim Yar Khan, secretary Primary and Secondary Health in DG Khan and Taunsa, secretary Higher Education in district Layyah, secretary Local Government in district Rajanpur while Additional Secretary Home will monitor cotton crop in districts Muzaffargarh and Kot Addu.