PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur has directed the quarters concerned to digitise all the official business of food department including procurement of wheat, its transportation and storage at provincial reserve centres. A statement issued here said that he was chairing a meeting of food department on Tuesday. The meeting was attended by Provincial Minister for Food Zahir Shah Toru, Food Secretary Saqib Aslam Raza and other senior officials of food department. The meeting deliberated upon various matters including provincial government’s course of action in the context of federal government’s decision to dissolve Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco). It was decided to include a scheme in upcoming Annual Development Programme (ADP) for enhancing the wheat storage capacity of the provincial government. In case of dissolution of Passco, a guarantee will be sought from federal and Punjab governments that no ban should be imposed on inter-provincial transportation of wheat and wheat flour. The matter would be taken up in Council of Common Interests (CCI). The participants of the meeting also discussed payments of outstanding dues to Passco for the purchased wheat. They decided to pay the outstanding dues of local farmers on priority basis and the authorities concerned were directed for necessary steps to this end. Various matters regarding better management and efficient utilisation of food department’s properties also came under discussion. The participants of the meeting were briefed on annual requirement of wheat, available stock of wheat, storage capacity and wheat release policy of the provincial government. They were informed that a sufficient stock of wheat was available with the provincial food department. The chief minister directed the quarters concerned to make sure transparency in all process of wheat procurement ensuring that high quality wheat was purchased.