ACE to monitor wheat procurement

LAHORE

Anti-Corruption Establishment Punjab has decided to monitor the whole process of wheat procurement starting from the next month, and a comprehensive plan has been chalked out to ensure transparency right from the provision of gunny bags to farmers to the procurement and payment for the wheat. Instructions have also been passed to Food Department in this regard.

According to a handout, this was said by Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab Director General Brig (R) Muzaffar Ali Ranjhain during a monthly review meeting of the regional directors. ACE Additional Director General Nadeem Sarwar and other officers attended the meeting. 

The ACE DG directed all the regional directors to place pana flaxes at all wheat procurement centres having addresses, phone numbers and mobile contact numbers of the ACE offices concerned and officers so the farmers might contact them in case of non-provision of gunny bags and undue demand from officials of Food Department. Strict monitoring of the corrupt officials of Food Department would be done and collusion of middleman and officials of Food Department to blackmail the poor farmer would be broken. 

ACE would keep an eye on the  gunny bags distribution process before the procurement campaign and the officials involved in malpractices would be nabbed immediately, said the DG. Government wants to ensure payment of support price to the growers.

He directed the regional directors to ensure quality, weight and total payment of the procured wheat to the farmers.

ACE has prepared a comprehensive plan according to which farmers could not be victimised by middleman and powerful quarters. "All the employees posted at wheat procurement centres are under strict observation from today so they should be more careful now," warned the ACE DG.

He directed the regional directors to take prompt action on complaints of non-provision of gunny bags, procurement of substandard wheat, undue cut in price and weight. He ordered the officers not to hesitate in nabbing the accused from their workplace. 

suspended: Deputy Commissioner Lahore Sumair Ahmed Syed has suspended 18 employees of different departments on coming late on census duties.

Officials said on Thursday that on the second day of census in Lahore city, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Sumair Ahmed Syed supervised the entire census operation in the district.

The DC visited Dev Samaj Road to check the working of the census teams and inquired from the census teams as well as general public about the ongoing activity. He directed the census officials that their behaviour with the people should be polite.

The district administration teams along with census officials and army officials visited various areas. The district administration has provided full support to the teams carrying out census in the metropolitan city which will continue till April 15. 

While talking to the media people, he said there were about 6,746 blocks which had been divided into two parts. He said that in the first round, the teams would work in 3,500 blocks which would continue from March 15 to March 29 and in the second phase, starting from March 31 to April 15, the teams would cover the remaining blocks.