Wheat sack imbroglio mars procurement

Private buyers offer low prices amid uncertainty

BAHAWALNAGAR:

Amid accusations of illegal sale of sacks meant for wheat procurement in Bahawalnagar district, the farmers are expressing apprehensions about their economic plight.

The Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Supplies Corporation procures wheat in Bahawalnagar and Manchanabad tehsils, while the Punjab Food Department purchases the grain in Chishtian, Haroonabad and Fort Abbas.

Last year, the department purchased 2.7 million sacks, but no clear purchasing policy has come to the fore this while, while the wheat season is nearing its end.

On the other hand, private buyers are offering farmers a rate of Rs3,000 per 40 kg in contrast to the official wheat support price of Rs3,900.

According to a farmer, a large number of local growers disappointed over the food department not initiating the purchase are contemplating to grow wheat only for their own consumption in the future.

He said the failure of the district administration to fulfil its responsibilities had earlier resulted in forcing them to buy fertilisers and pesticides at exorbitant prices and now the food department was not buying the produce.

“The middlemen and traders will get the profit because we will be forced to sell our wheat to them at low prices because of the prevailing uncertainty,” he said.

Another grower said the farmers were unable to get access to the sacks issued for wheat procurement allegedly because of collusion of authorities.

The district information office had announced on Sunday that revenue department officials had raided a factory, seized 8,000 sacks, sealed the premises and arrested the owners.

However, the factory owners claimed that the factory had not been sealed. They said they had purchased wheat from farmers and stored it.

They also alleged that they had paid Rs500 per sack to some officials. They contended while speaking to the media that officials of PASSCO and the district administration should also be named in the FIR.

In another incident, the district administration raided a warehouse in Donga Bonga and seized more than 45,000 sacks of wheat.

However, PASSCO officials said the warehouse was being used by the corporation and the wheat sacks had been kept there to be given to the farmers.

The district administration sealed the warehouse but did not take further legal action.

A revenue official alleged that a complaint lodged against warehouse owner and a PASSCO centre in-charge had been withdrawn on the orders of higher authorities.

The local administration also announced that the assistant commissioner of Manchanabad had seized trucks loaded with wheat sacks that had arrived from other districts. The drivers were arrested and FIRs lodged against them and the truck owners.

However, PASSCO authorities claimed that the seized trucks contained legitimate cargo from factories. They said receipts for the freight were also available.

Bahawalnagar PASSCO In-charge Mohammed Mazhar told The Express Tribune that the procurement target for Bahawalnagar and Manchanabad tehsils was 2.1 million sacks last year, which had been reduced to 1.9 million this year despite the bumper crop.

He said the corporation had achieved 90 per cent of the target and the farmers were being given whet sacks under the supervision of revenue authorities on the basis of merit. Complaints in this regard were also being redressed, he added.

Deputy Commissioner Zulfiqar Ahmed pledged strict action against the elements exploiting the farmers.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1^st, 2024.