ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan on Wednesday apprised the National Assembly that special relief package worth Rs50 billion for the farmers was announced during COVID-19 pandemic.
Replying to various questions during Question Hour, the minister said the Finance Division had already released Rs15.6 billion to the ministry out of that Rs15.3 billion had been transferred to the provinces during 2020-21.
He said the government was making huge investment on farmers to increase production of various crops including wheat, rice, cotton and sugarcane etc. He said the country witnessed record wheat production of 27.5 million tons this year owing to the steps taken by the government.
He said the government has chalked out PM Emergency Plan worth Rs 277 billion for promotion of agriculture sector in the country.
The minister said subsidies were being provided to the farmers on fertilizers, seeds and pesticides. Soft loans on nominal markup were also being provided to the farmers for purchasing tractors and other agriculture related equipment, he added.
Ali Muhammad said efforts were being made to introduce new seeds to increase the agriculture productivity including cotton.
Pakistan was a self-sufficient country in the production of cotton yarn, rather it had exported 39,000-tons worth $121 million, he said.
However, he said cotton production, the basic raw material to manufacture yarn, was lowering for the past few years. The decline in the cotton area was mainly witnessed in Punjab province. The area under competing crops like sugarcane, rice, and maize was increasing at the cost of the cotton area, he said.
He said a subsidy of Rs10 billion would be provided to the farmers on different agriculture inputs for the Kharif season.
To another question, the minister said out of a total of 30 km length of Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) loop section, 14 Km of track had been rehabilitated. However, KCR was presently operationalized from Marshalling Yard Pipri-Karachi City-Orangi stations (64 Kms) w.e.f 10-02-2021.
Further work from Orangi to Depot Hill Stations (16 Kms) was held up for want of construction of flyovers & underpasses by the provincial government for elimination of level-crossing as per the directives of Supreme Court of Pakistan, he said.
He said entire Circular Railways would be restored in Karachi in its original form as it was closed in December, 1999 within 06 months on the completion of flyovers & underpasses by the Government of Sindh. Pakistan Railways had completed the feasibility study for modern KCR which was in process of approval, he said.

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