Disappearance of 500,000 wheat bags: Sindh CM directs Food Dept to submit report

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed the secretary of the provincial Food Department to submit a report regarding the disappearance of nearly 500,000 wheat bags in nine districts of the province.

According to the documentary evidences available with The News, a comprehensive report of physical verification of the food godowns -- carried out by the Sindh Inquiries and Anti-Corruption Establishment (E&ACE) to ascertain the factual position of the wheat stock -- was submitted to the Sindh chief minister by former chairman E&ACE Iqbal Memon in April, 2021.

According to the report, some 487,563 wheat bags were missing in nine districts of the province, including six districts where physical verification could not be completed as some of the godowns were sealed by NAB.

It is pertinent to mention here that there are a lot of corruption cases being investigated by the federal and provincial anti-corruption watchdogs -- National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Sindh Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) -- and only the NAB Sukkur, after conducting inquiries of the Food Department, has recovered Rs10.612 billion from the accused persons till December 2020.

According to the ACE report, about 394,979 wheat bags were reported missing by the district food controller. However, the deputy director ACE, Larkana Zone, said physical verification could not be conducted as godowns were sealed by NAB.

About 90,000 bags were missing by the DFC at godowns of Taluka Thul, district Jacobabad; 44,356 bags were missing in district Larkana; 10,477 bags were missing in district Kambar-Shahdadkot; 1,334 wheat bags were missing as per the report submitted by the Deputy Director Headquarter ACE of Shaheed Benazirabad; 27,175 wheat bags were in balance in district Sukkur but physical verification could not be conducted as godowns were sealed by NAB; 3,414 bags were missing in district Ghotki, 4,380 bags were missing in district Khairpur and 1,448 bags were found missing in district Jacobabad. The spokesman for the Sindh Chief Minister, Rasheed Channa, told The News that the Sindh chief minister believes in transparency and if any person was found guilty of causing loss to the national exchequer he would be dealt with according to the law