The government has a plan to import 1.3 million tonnes of food grains in the current fiscal year, Food and Disaster Management Minister Abdur Razzak informed Parliament Tuesday, reports UNB.
Responding to a question from BNP lawmaker Jafrul Islam Chowdhury (Chittagong), he said the government had a plan to import 0.8 million tonnes of wheat and 0.5 million tonnes of rice in the fiscal 2008-'09.
The minister said that an agreement had already been signed to import 0.3 million tonnes of wheat.
The government so far imported 0.4 million tonnes of rice from India under the government-to-government import programme, he added.
Replying to a supplementary of Jafrul Islam Chowdhury, the food minister said the capacity of food grains storage in the government godowns across the country was 1.5 million tonnes while the current stock in the godowns was 1.267 million tonnes. Replying to a question of M Abdul Latif, he said the government had decided to procure 1.5 million tonnes of rice from internal sources.
The target of food grain production in the current fiscal year has been fixed at 34.332 million tonnes, the minister said in reply to a question from Sheikh Afil Uddin. Of the total production target, 2.312 million tonnes of Aus, 13.009 million tonnes of Aman, 18.011 million tonnes of Boro and 1.0 million tonnes of wheat, he said.
Replying to BNP lawmaker Shahid Uddin Chowdhury Anny (Laxmipur), the food minister said the government had enough stock of food grains to face any calamity in the country.
Another news adds: The government has no plan at present to set up any consumer goods price control authority, Commerce Minister Faruq Khan told the Parliament Tuesday.
Replying to a question of Junaid Ahmed Palak, he said the government would take such a step to form consumer goods price control authority, if it became necessary.
Replying to Rashed Khan Menon, the commerce minister said that in the 2008-'09 fiscal year, the government had taken initiative to procure 3,000 tonnes of lentil, 5,000 tonnes of soybean oil, 1,000 tonnes of sugar, 100 tonnes of onion and 100 tonnes of chickpeas through TCB from the local market.
