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Crops spray dues: provinces asked to pay Rs 79.215m

AMER SIAL

ISLAMABAD: The government has asked the provinces to pay the outstanding dues amounting to Rs 79.215 million incurred on aerial spray during the past several years, it is learnt.

The outstanding amount against Punjab is Rs 68.253 million, Sindh Rs 10.581 million, and Rs 0.379 million against Balochistan.

The amount against Punjab is leviable under the National Agriculture Policy. The province has to pay Rs 18.08 million for the aerial spray over 513,000 acres of rice crop in 1991 and Rs 50.173 million for spray over 845,000 acres of rice crop in 1992. The recoverable amount is 50 percent cost of the pesticides sprayed.

Sindh has to pay Rs 6.461 million for the aerial spray in 1994 over 172,000 acres of rice crop. The total cost of the pesticide spray was Rs 12.923 million but it was reduced to half. It has to pay Rs 3.829 million for acrial spray over 22,000 acres of date palms in 1998 and Rs 0.29 million for spray over 1,700 acres of date palms in 1999.

Balochistan has to pay Rs 0.379 million for the expenses incurred for controlling grasshopper over an area of 41 acres in 1998. The outstanding amount has also been reduced to half by the federal government.