The Prime Minister, while responding to the comments of some businessmen that wheat distribution in the country was made after fulfilling needs of Punjab while the same policy was not applied in distribution of electricity to benefit NWFP, said the federal government would soon launch mega CRBC Lift Irrigation Scheme in Dera Ismail Khan to overcome wheat shortage in province.
The decision in this regard was taken by him after consultation with Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin and NWFP Chief Minister Amir Haider Hoti. He said the project would be approved by ECNEC soon. He said after completion of CRBC scheme, thousands of barren land in southern districts of NWFP would be irrigated as a result of which the province would become able to cultivate enough wheat, which would end its dependence on Punjab.
He said the present government had inherited wheat shortage problem as a result of which flour was not available in the country. With effective handling of the problem, the country has now produced bumper wheat crop and we need billions of rupees to store its stock, he added. Similarly, he added, the government was launching several projects as a result of which the problem of electricity load shedding would be resolved soon.