USC in troubled waters due to ever increasing corruption

Rawalpindi

Ever-increasing corruption has badly damaged the reputation of public welfare, Utility Store Corporation (USC), as the poor not only have been facing shortage of utility ghee/cooking oil for many days, but they also have to pay more on some food items like dry milk, branded ghee and tea than their open market rates.

The newly appointed managing director of USC, who in order to start crackdown against corrupt mafia suspended five top post officials involved in different kinds of departmental corruption in this regard.

‘The News’ has learnt that warehouse staff of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are directly involved in selling food items to shopkeepers on exorbitant rates therefore, USC stores are facing shortage of different items. Secondly, warehouse staff was supplying expired and sub-standard food items to stores regularly earning big commission from companies in return.

The newly appointed managing director Utility Stores Corporation (USC) has reportedly suspended five senior officials of the department as part of clean-up operation. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has appointed Syed Gulzar Hussain Shah a grade 20 officer of Pakistan Administrative Services (PAS) with mandate to take bold decisions and rid the organisation of those who destroyed it through corruption.

The officers who have been suspended in the first phase are General Manager Masood Alam Niazi, General Manager Sardar Muhammad Khan, General Manager Ashfaq Ali Malik, General Manager Habib Butt and General Manager Munir Ahmed.

In the second phase a former acting managing director and at least four or five general managers are to be taken to task, well informed sources told this scribe.

The Utility Stores Corporation (USC) Board of Directors (BoD), which terminated the services of former acting Managing Director is holding a meeting to extend all out support to the newly appointed MD. The board is also contesting a case against Sultan Mehmood in Islamabad High Court. Chairman of the USC, Board Jamal Mustafa Siddique had written a letter to the recently removed secretary Industries and Production, Arif Azim about the corruption of former acting MD and other senior officials who were facing cases in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Due to non-seriousness of concerned management, no big rush is now seen at utility stores as the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) has lost its basic objective to provide items of daily use to the public, especially the poorer segments of the society, at prices were comparatively lower than the market. After the withdrawal of all kinds of subsidies, prices of food items in utility stores are no different from the prices in open market. Whereas some of food items are selling on higher prices at the USC then the open market shops.

According to store managers, some of items are selling in higher prices than open markets that ‘Daal Mash’ selling at Rs275 per kilogram here in USC but it is selling at Rs266 in open market shops. Dry milk is selling at Rs762 per kilogram here at USC but it is selling at Rs719 in open market shops. Bran. ded ghee is selling at Rs840 for 5-kilogram here at USC but it is selling at Rs800 in open market shops. Branded tea is selling at Rs681 per 980-gram here at USC but it is selling at Rs650 in open market shops. Similarly, utility rice selling at Rs72 per kilogram but man could not eat it.

The utility ghee and cooking oil were better for poor but both are not available for many days. The utility ghee was selling at Rs115 for 1-kilogram while utility cooking oil selling at Rs125 per litre.

The store managers on condition of anonymity also hinted at declining business and feared downsising in the number of stores if the current trend of withdrawing subsidies continues. Among the food items, people used to get wheat flour, pulses, vegetable ghee, oil, sugar etc., at subsidised rates from utility stores where long queues were seen till recently when all such commodities were available at subsidised rates.

The coming month of Ramazan will be real test time for the existence of utility stores. The way food inflation is rising, the month of blessings is expected to be very tough for people. It is the normal tendency that prices of eatables increase beyond the reach of consumers in Ramazan. Black-marketing and hoarding touch new peaks while the government machinery remains ineffective and fail to maintain the market rates within the reach of consumers.

The Utility Stores Corporation (USC) Regional Manager (Rawalpindi) Muhammad Farooq said that they are strictly monitoring warehouse staff. “We have removed all expired items from stores,” he claimed. He also said that utility ghee and cooking oil will land in stores soon.