Senate body condemns leniency to adulterators

Friday, January 16, 2009

By Jawwad Rizvi

LAHORE: The senate standing committee on food, agriculture and livestock has strongly criticised the judiciary for not giving exemplary punishments to the people involved in the business of spurious pesticides and fertilizer. The senate standing committee on agriculture and food held a meeting at civil secretariat on Thursday to discus the position of pesticides’ and fertilizers’ adulteration and availability of fertilizers to the farmers of Punjab. The members of the meeting were unanimous that the current fertilizers crisis was self-created by some dealers and manufacturers while the government had also taken late decision for fertilizers’ import. The meeting was chaired by Senator Muhammad Amjad Abbas who stressed the need for expediting the prosecution of the cases against the people and companies involved in the adulteration of pesticides and fertilizers. The meeting was attended by senators Shuja-ul-Mulk, Agha Pari Gul, Abbas Komali, Mrs Sameen Saddiqui, Mohabat Khan Mari, Raza Mohammad Raza, Dr Abdul Malik, Punjab Agriculture Minister Ahmed Ali Aulkah, Punjab Food Minister Malik Nadeem Kamran, Punjab Agriculture Secretary Javeed Awan, Federal Secretary MINFAL Zia-ur-Rehman, DG Agriculture Dr Anjum Ali and other officials concerned. The meeting has issued instruction to the concerned authorities to ensure timely availability of fertilizers to the farmers in cotton and wheat growing areas of the Punjab. On pesticide issue, the chair with the suggestions of the participants has proposed that the services of legal experts at district or thesil levels should be hired. The participants of the meeting were of the view that sale of spurious pesticide was a heinous crime, as it damaged the national economy thrice. The meeting has also grilled the police on not taking action against the influential people involved in the business of fake pesticides and fertilizers. The chair has issued instruction to the police to resolve all the pending cases registered against adulterators. On the fertilizer issue, every participant has given his input. Senator Muhammad Amjad Abbas said the dealers were mainly involved in the shortage. He said the federal government had imported urea late due to financial problem. However, the Punjab government has been doing its best administrative efforts to handle the situation, he added. “Once there is shortage and supply side problem in the system then the overcharging can not be controlled”, he remarked. Senator Muhammad Amjad Abbas also asked why the police and administration were not taking action against the powerful fertilizer dealers who were selling fertilizers more than the officially fixed price of urea fertilizer. The meeting was informed that 1.3 million urea bags needed in D G Khan Division while no urea was available in the division. Similarly, Senator Raza Mohammad Raza, Dr Abdul Malik, representing Balochistan, pointed out that they were also facing urea shortage. They informed that wheat had been sowed in 5000 acre of Merani Dam but now the farmers were looking for urea for their crop. Secretary MINFL Zia-ur-Rehman said the government had allowed the import of some one million tone urea against the shortage of six lakh ton. The total annual urea production of the country is 4.8 million tones while the consumption is 5.4 million tones. However, this year area under wheat cultivation has been substantially increased.

Published in The News Lahore city pages

Cellphone firms seek increase in call rates

Saturday, January 17, 2009

By Jawwad Rizvi

LAHORE: Two major cellular operators of the country have proposed increase in call rates, saying revenues of the telecom industry have been declining which in turn affects investment in the sector.The News has learnt that the proposal was floated in a meeting held at Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) headquarters on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 in the morning session and continued till lunch time.Chairman PTA, Dr Yasin chaired the meeting, which was attended by the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of all cellular operators of Pakistan and member finance to evaluate the financial situation of the cellular industry.Sources privy to the meeting revealed that various issues of the telecom industry were discussed in the meeting. The meeting also talked about the impact of the current global financial crunch and national issues for the telecom industry.Cellular operators’ representatives stated that their revenue had registered a declining trend. Representatives of the two operators, of which one has the country’s largest customer base and the other is a sister organisation of the national telecommunication company, had proposed to increase call rates in order to attract further investments and maintain the quality of their services.They said the sector had received the highest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the last couple of years and in the current scenario no further investments are expected.Cellular operators said the revenue of the telecom industry dropped due to an increase in taxes. The Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) has been reduced to $2.7 per consumer, as compared to last year’s $4 per consumer in the same period. They proposed the burden should be shifted on to the consumers by increasing call rates.Of the two operators’ representatives, one is based in China while the other is UAE-based. The UAE-based representative opposed the idea of increasing call rates, saying that it would reduce the consumer base. They also opposed the idea as the customers are already affected with the current high tax rates and imposition of new 5 per cent surcharge on every easy load has also put extra burden on the customers. They said the ARPU was declining due to many other reasons, not only due to taxes. On the other hand the Norway based cellular operator representative remained indifferent to this issue.A spokesman of the sister organisation of National Telecommunication Company confirmed to The News that the meeting of all mobile company CEO’s, PTA Chairman, Member Finance PTA. However, he said that the meeting was not for increasing mobile tariffs, but rather to evaluate the financial situation of the cellular industry in the country. He said various suggestions were discussed for the betterment of the industry and consumers. This meeting was called in by the PTA.Other issues which were also discussed in the meeting included UAN, SMS interconnection, infrastructure sharing. The meeting also discussed different competitive and aggressive call rates. It mentioned that the telecom industry was still in its growing phase, although the pace of growth was slower compared to previous years. This is understandable given the global financial crisis, rising costs in Pakistan, as well as the maturity phase, which the industry is now experiencing.

Published in The News Business pages

Cellphone firms seek increase in call rates

Saturday, January 17, 2009

By Jawwad Rizvi

LAHORE: Two major cellular operators of the country have proposed increase in call rates, saying revenues of the telecom industry have been declining which in turn affects investment in the sector.The News has learnt that the proposal was floated in a meeting held at Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) headquarters on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 in the morning session and continued till lunch time.Chairman PTA, Dr Yasin chaired the meeting, which was attended by the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of all cellular operators of Pakistan and member finance to evaluate the financial situation of the cellular industry.Sources privy to the meeting revealed that various issues of the telecom industry were discussed in the meeting. The meeting also talked about the impact of the current global financial crunch and national issues for the telecom industry.Cellular operators’ representatives stated that their revenue had registered a declining trend. Representatives of the two operators, of which one has the country’s largest customer base and the other is a sister organisation of the national telecommunication company, had proposed to increase call rates in order to attract further investments and maintain the quality of their services.They said the sector had received the highest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during the last couple of years and in the current scenario no further investments are expected.Cellular operators said the revenue of the telecom industry dropped due to an increase in taxes. The Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) has been reduced to $2.7 per consumer, as compared to last year’s $4 per consumer in the same period. They proposed the burden should be shifted on to the consumers by increasing call rates.Of the two operators’ representatives, one is based in China while the other is UAE-based. The UAE-based representative opposed the idea of increasing call rates, saying that it would reduce the consumer base. They also opposed the idea as the customers are already affected with the current high tax rates and imposition of new 5 per cent surcharge on every easy load has also put extra burden on the customers. They said the ARPU was declining due to many other reasons, not only due to taxes. On the other hand the Norway based cellular operator representative remained indifferent to this issue.A spokesman of the sister organisation of National Telecommunication Company confirmed to The News that the meeting of all mobile company CEO’s, PTA Chairman, Member Finance PTA. However, he said that the meeting was not for increasing mobile tariffs, but rather to evaluate the financial situation of the cellular industry in the country. He said various suggestions were discussed for the betterment of the industry and consumers. This meeting was called in by the PTA.Other issues which were also discussed in the meeting included UAN, SMS interconnection, infrastructure sharing. The meeting also discussed different competitive and aggressive call rates. It mentioned that the telecom industry was still in its growing phase, although the pace of growth was slower compared to previous years. This is understandable given the global financial crisis, rising costs in Pakistan, as well as the maturity phase, which the industry is now experiencing.

Published in The News Business pages

Furnace oil prices raised

Saturday, January 17, 2009

By Jawwad Rizvi

LAHORE: Pakistan Refinery Ltd (PRL) and Pak-Arab Refinery Ltd (PARCO) on Friday increased prices of furnace oil.The PRL has fixed new price of furnace oil at Rs21,793 per tonne excluding General Sales Tax (GST) compared to previous Rs21,070, an increase of Rs723. Similarly, PARCO increased furnace oil price by Rs310 at Rs22,760 per tonne excluding GST compared to Rs22,450 earlier.The Ministry of Petroleum in its notification dated January 14 had announced that the review of petroleum products’ prices including high-speed diesel (HSD) would be on monthly basis ie first of every month instead of existing fortnightly review. The next review would now be on February 1.The notification stated that the new monthly system would also be applicable to the refineries as well. However, the two refineries have increased the prices of furnace oil despite the government’s instruction. —JR

Published in The News in Business pages

Furnace oil prices raised

Saturday, January 17, 2009

By Jawwad Rizvi

LAHORE: Pakistan Refinery Ltd (PRL) and Pak-Arab Refinery Ltd (PARCO) on Friday increased prices of furnace oil.The PRL has fixed new price of furnace oil at Rs21,793 per tonne excluding General Sales Tax (GST) compared to previous Rs21,070, an increase of Rs723. Similarly, PARCO increased furnace oil price by Rs310 at Rs22,760 per tonne excluding GST compared to Rs22,450 earlier.The Ministry of Petroleum in its notification dated January 14 had announced that the review of petroleum products’ prices including high-speed diesel (HSD) would be on monthly basis ie first of every month instead of existing fortnightly review. The next review would now be on February 1.The notification stated that the new monthly system would also be applicable to the refineries as well. However, the two refineries have increased the prices of furnace oil despite the government’s instruction. —JR

Published in The News in Business pages

Govt to procure 6.5m tonnes wheat this year

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

By Jawwad Rizvi

LAHORE: The federal government has fixed a wheat procurement target of 6.5 million tonnes for the current year, expecting a good crop following an aggressive wheat sowing campaign across the country.The News has learnt that for the first time the federal government has assigned a wheat procurement target of 300,000 tonnes to NWFP and 200,000 tonnes to Balochistan. It has directed Punjab to procure 3.5 million tonnes while Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Supplies Corporation (PASSCO) would procure 1.5 million tonnes and Sindh one million tonnes.The targets were assigned in a meeting held at Islamabad. The meeting was chaired by Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture Nazar Muhammad Gondal and attended by representatives of the four provinces, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) and finance ministry.The meeting discussed methods of wheat procurement at the price announced by the government before crop cultivation. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had announced a procurement price of Rs950 per 40 kg for the next season.Following the announcement of the attractive price which is now almost equal to the regional wheat price, the farmers cultivated more wheat sparking hopes of a bumper crop this year. The government has fixed a target of 25 million tonnes for wheat production this year.The meeting also asked the finance ministry to prepare a plan to ensure availability of financial resources at the time of procurement. It also asked PASSCO official to prepare a wheat procurement plan including funds needed for the drive. It was decided that the government would continue buying the commodity from farmers till the last grains from fields were lifted.The meeting noted that necessary arrangements for wheat procurement were crucial as if the government failed to buy from the farmers at the prescribed rate, it would negatively affect production in future. It was also pointed out that if government agencies succeeded in procuring wheat at Rs950 per 40 kg, the country would not face food security problems like those it encountered during the last few years and spent huge foreign exchange on wheat import.The meeting participants were of the view that wheat procurement at the set price would also open a window for export of the commodity in coming years when surplus stocks would be available.Recently, rice farmers suffered a lot as the government failed to ensure the commodity’s purchase at the set price. If the same mistake is repeated in the case of wheat procurement, its production would be affected. The government always has figures from all districts and it can easily devise a plan to purchase every grain.

Published in The News in business pages

Govt to procure 6.5m tonnes wheat this year

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

By Jawwad Rizvi

LAHORE: The federal government has fixed a wheat procurement target of 6.5 million tonnes for the current year, expecting a good crop following an aggressive wheat sowing campaign across the country.The News has learnt that for the first time the federal government has assigned a wheat procurement target of 300,000 tonnes to NWFP and 200,000 tonnes to Balochistan. It has directed Punjab to procure 3.5 million tonnes while Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Supplies Corporation (PASSCO) would procure 1.5 million tonnes and Sindh one million tonnes.The targets were assigned in a meeting held at Islamabad. The meeting was chaired by Federal Minister for Food and Agriculture Nazar Muhammad Gondal and attended by representatives of the four provinces, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (MINFAL) and finance ministry.The meeting discussed methods of wheat procurement at the price announced by the government before crop cultivation. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had announced a procurement price of Rs950 per 40 kg for the next season.Following the announcement of the attractive price which is now almost equal to the regional wheat price, the farmers cultivated more wheat sparking hopes of a bumper crop this year. The government has fixed a target of 25 million tonnes for wheat production this year.The meeting also asked the finance ministry to prepare a plan to ensure availability of financial resources at the time of procurement. It also asked PASSCO official to prepare a wheat procurement plan including funds needed for the drive. It was decided that the government would continue buying the commodity from farmers till the last grains from fields were lifted.The meeting noted that necessary arrangements for wheat procurement were crucial as if the government failed to buy from the farmers at the prescribed rate, it would negatively affect production in future. It was also pointed out that if government agencies succeeded in procuring wheat at Rs950 per 40 kg, the country would not face food security problems like those it encountered during the last few years and spent huge foreign exchange on wheat import.The meeting participants were of the view that wheat procurement at the set price would also open a window for export of the commodity in coming years when surplus stocks would be available.Recently, rice farmers suffered a lot as the government failed to ensure the commodity’s purchase at the set price. If the same mistake is repeated in the case of wheat procurement, its production would be affected. The government always has figures from all districts and it can easily devise a plan to purchase every grain.

Published in The News in business pages