Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Thursday constituted a seven-member committee to work out a mechanism for bringing price escalation of agriculture inputs within justified limits.The committee will submit its recommendations to the Prime Minister within a week. He also directed the finance team to prepare a fair mechanism of sales tax on agriculture inputs to redress the difficulties of farmers.The Minister for Water and Power, the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, the Minister of State for Finance and MNAs Nazar Muhammad Gondal (Punjab), Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur (Sindh), Noor Alam Khan (Khyber Pukhtunkhwa) and Amir Ali Magsi (Balochistan) will be members of the committee.
The Prime Minister while chairing a meeting of Parliamentarians here at the Parliament House, said the government believed in deciding matters and policies through collective wisdom.
He further said that despite a number of formidable challenges during the last three years, the government had successfully turned challenges into opportunity which speaks of the exemplary resilience and courage of the government.
The Prime Minister said that Pakistan’s economy was agro-based and the government was fully sensitized about the interests of subsistence farmers.
He tasked the committee to investigate and recommend appropriate measures against undue increase in the prices of fertilizers, pesticides and agriculture machinery.
Minister for Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh appreciated the parliamentarians’ concern over the price hike of agri-inputs.
He apprised the members that food, health, education and agricultural produce were among those sectors which were exempted from the sales tax.
All the causes of price hike of agriculture inputs were discussed in-depth during the meeting.The meeting was attended by Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah, Minister for Science and Technology Mir Changez Khan Jamali, Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar and MNAs: Nadeem Afzal Chan, Tariq Mehmood Bajwa, Rana Muhammad Farooq Saeed Khan, Nazar Muhammad Gondal, Sajjad ul Hassan, Liaqat Ali Khan, Capt ® Rai Ghulam Mujtaba Kharal, Syed Sumsam Ali Shah Bukhari, Mehmood Hayat Khan alias Tochi Khan, Mian Abdul Sattar, Jehangir Tareen, Javed Iqbal Warraich, Nazir Ahmad Bughio, Ejaz Hussain Jakhrani, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Syed Amir Ali Shah, Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur, Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpur and Roshan Uddin Junejo. APP
He further said that despite a number of formidable challenges during the last three years, the government had successfully turned challenges into opportunity which speaks of the exemplary resilience and courage of the government.
The Prime Minister said that Pakistan’s economy was agro-based and the government was fully sensitized about the interests of subsistence farmers.
He tasked the committee to investigate and recommend appropriate measures against undue increase in the prices of fertilizers, pesticides and agriculture machinery.
Minister for Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh appreciated the parliamentarians’ concern over the price hike of agri-inputs.
He apprised the members that food, health, education and agricultural produce were among those sectors which were exempted from the sales tax.
All the causes of price hike of agriculture inputs were discussed in-depth during the meeting.The meeting was attended by Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khursheed Ahmad Shah, Minister for Science and Technology Mir Changez Khan Jamali, Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar and MNAs: Nadeem Afzal Chan, Tariq Mehmood Bajwa, Rana Muhammad Farooq Saeed Khan, Nazar Muhammad Gondal, Sajjad ul Hassan, Liaqat Ali Khan, Capt ® Rai Ghulam Mujtaba Kharal, Syed Sumsam Ali Shah Bukhari, Mehmood Hayat Khan alias Tochi Khan, Mian Abdul Sattar, Jehangir Tareen, Javed Iqbal Warraich, Nazir Ahmad Bughio, Ejaz Hussain Jakhrani, Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Syed Amir Ali Shah, Nawab Muhammad Yousuf Talpur, Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpur and Roshan Uddin Junejo. APP
