CHAKWAL: Due to negligence by local parliamentarians and apathy of concerned officials, agricultural implements purchased at a cost of millions of rupees are rusting in Chakwal and Talagang for the last 12 years.

These implements are placed in front of the office of the district wildlife officer and the site gives a pathetic look.

According to documents obtained by Dawn, 68 tractors along with 314 implements were purchased by the district administration led by the then district nazim Sardar Ghulam Abbas in 2007 under a scheme, “Provision of 68 tractors with implements for provision of services to farmers of district Chakwal” at a cost of Rs55 million.

Among the implements included 68 cultivators, 68 front blades, 18 disc harrows, 18 fertiliser spreaders, 27 groundnut planters, 34 automated combine rabi drills, 18 rotavators, 27 wheat straw choppers, 18 chisel ploughs and 18 ploughs called Raja Hall.

Tractors and other equipment worth millions of rupees were purchased for distribution among farmers in 2007

According to the plan thought out by Mr Abbas, one tractor along with necessary implements was to be given to one union council (as at that time the district had 68 union councils) so that the farmers who did not have their own tractors could get their land ploughed under subsidised rates. But the scheme hit snags before it was commenced as the district administration could not hire 68 drivers for the tractors.

The abolishment of the local government in 2008 gave another blow to the scheme.

The tractors of John Deere Company along with implements continued rusting under the open sky till 2010 when all the 68 tractors were handed over to those districts which were hit by floods and since then they are also lying useless in the districts of south Punjab.

After the issue was highlighted in this newspaper in Sept 2013, the then district coordination officer Yawar Hussain wrote a letter to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and concerned higher officials proposing that 184 implements be transferred to Agriculture and Livestock Department Lahore while the rest of 130 implements be auctioned.

The chief minister approved the proposal and directed the concerned officials to take action according to the proposal sent by the DCO.

The concerned authorities managed to distribute 184 agricultural implements among different agriculture institutes but failed to auction the rest of the 130 implements.

Among them were wheat straw choppers, drills and some others.

Former deputy director agriculture Mohammad Aslam wrote a letter on March 13 this year to the Agri-Engineering Workshop in Talagang seeking a technical report on the implements for their auction but even after seven months the reply has not been submitted.

“These implements are rusting and their condition is fast deteriorating as they are lying useless and unattended,” said an official of the agriculture department.

When contacted, Deputy Director Agriculture Mohammad Jafar Imran claimed that these implements would be auctioned soon.

“Since I took charge recently, I am trying my best to dispose of these implements through auction,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 28th, 2019