Protest against delay in Kisan Package.

SAHIWAL -- Hundreds of farmers from the Pakistan Kisan Ittehad (PKI) staged a rally in protest against the federal government for not implementing the Rs1.8tr Kisan Relief Package recently announced by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The rally was held from Nagina Chowk to DC Chowk, Pakpattan, followed by a seminar.

PKI Punjab President Rizwan Iqbal said Pakistan's economy was on the verge of collapse because agriculture had been destroyed by the policies of the present and previous governments. He said PM Sharif had committed to awarding Rs13.50 per unit of electricity to the farmers but till date no notification had been issued by the federal government.

He said it was committed in the package that the farmers would be awarded subsidies on fertiliser, pesticides and quality seed but nothing happened.

Mr Rizwan said the prices of DAP had gone down in the international market but even then, the government was not offering the growers subsidy on it.

Haji Shafi Watto, the district office-bearer of the PKI, lamented that the federal government had spent billions of rupees on advertisements of the Kisan package in the media but gave not a single penny to the farmers. He said the package was a joke and it must be done away with.

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