PTI lawmaker baffled by ‘missing wheat’ from govt warehouses

Ghaffar says staple grain disappeared under Sindh govt's nose

KARACHI:

(PTI) Sindh Assembly Parliamentary Leader Bilal Ghaffar, while expressing concern over the disappearance of Rs8 billion worth of wheat from provincial warehouses, said 1.631 million tonnes had disappeared from under the nose of the food department.

"However, the administration and the Sindh government are unaware of this missing grain," Ghaffar quipped sarcastically. He said that wheat worth Rs800 million was rotting in the warehouses, but the poor were not allowed to get the commodity. "Prior to this scandal, 600,000 sacks of wheat were lost from nine districts of Sindh and influential people had also closed the anti-corruption inquiry." He added that in 2019-20, a scandal of theft of wheat worth Rs8 billion also came to light. "Wheat thefts are being caught in Sindh, but the thieves are not being caught."

He said the provincial government released wheat from 32,000 tonnes of old stock. "The people of the province were fed old rotten wheat which was six years old and not fit for human consumption." The stock between 2012 and 2017 went down the stomachs of the people of Sindh, he said. "By not releasing wheat on time, the Sindh government is putting more burden of inflation on the people. When the federal government demands the release of wheat, the federation itself is criticised."

He added NAB had recovered Rs 19 billion in a wheat scandal, bit the Sindh government seems to appoint the tormentors of people to higher posts. He further said in his statement that the people's trust in the provincial government had eroded. "Corruption and theft have exposed the PPP. It has broken all records of forgery and corruption.

The solution for the thieves in the Sindh cabinet is to put them in jail and take back the money looted from the people. He concluded that the time had come to end the one-man rule in Sindh. "The people of Sindh will not tolerate crying for more bread. The PTI government is preparing to send the PPP home soon."