Nowshera: A large-scale fraud in the purchase of wheat has been revealed and the authorities have formed a committee to investigate the scam, after physical inspection and verification of wheat stocks in storage at Azakhel, wheat worth crores of rupees. It has been revealed that 15500 sacks of were missing.
The missing sacks included Pasco wheat as well as imported and locally sourced stock. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Director Food Musarat Zaman, when contacted, said that they have formed a four-member inquiry team for a high-level investigation and submitted a detailed report. A week
Also, investigation has been started against the suspended Storage and Enforcement Officer. A few months ago, there were large-scale irregularities in wheat purchased by the government at the Khel godown.
After this scandal, the Section Officer of the Food Department issued letter number 4152 dated October 4, 2024, suspending the Storage and Enforcement Officer Muhammad Arshad Khan for purchasing wheat beyond the prescribed limit.
However, the new officer-in-charge of NRC Izakhel, Mohammad Rashid Saeed, in a letter to the Director Food No. 401 dated November 19, 2024) revealed that after assuming charge, AFC Mohammad Khalid physically verified the wheat stocks and identified Turns out that wheat stock was confirmed. 15572 sacks of wheat were missing from the store.
According to the letter, records show that there were 724,662 sacks of wheat in storage but the actual count was only 709,090, showing a shortfall of 15,572 sacks worth lakhs of rupees.
The letter further revealed that the number of sacks and imported wheat purchased from Pasco is also at a record low. Based on the stock register and physical verification, a total of 1480 MT of wheat was missing.
Director Food Musarat Zaman said that in response to the letter of the NRC in-charge, a four-member committee has been formed which will submit its report in a week, after the report, strict legal action will be taken against them. Involved
Former DFC Azakhil Godam Muhammad Arshad Khan, when contacted, said that during his tenure, the wheat procurement process was suddenly stopped due to which farmers unloaded 1900 metric tonnes of wheat at the store.
Due to the suspension of procurement, payments to the farmers could not be made and the target was also reduced to 73,000 tonnes, which created a conflict between the farmers and the department and they refused to take back the wheat. He denied the embezzlement allegations, claiming that he held the post for only one and a half months. He expressed ignorance about the disappearance of wheat and said that he was suspended for simply buying more wheat.