Food Department of Dera Ismail Khan allegedly involved in buying wheat at cheaper rate from Punjab through middlemen while ignoring the local farmers and showing the expensive price of wheat in the purchase record.
The sources on the basis of anonymity told The Asian Mirror Correspondent that the Food Department of Dera Ismail Khan allegedly bought the wheat at the market price of Rs. 7,300 per hundred kg sack from Punjab and showed the price Rs. 9,900 per sack which is according to the government in the purchase record.
The sources also told this scribe that the Food Department had sold 25,000 sacks of wheat in its warehouses in Dera Ismail Khan for Rs 11,500 and now they have allegedly planned to buy wheat on open market rate which is Rs 7,300 through middlemen from Punjab and store it back in government godowns.
Reliable Sources told The Asian Mirror in this regard that in Dera Ismail Khan, favouritism and nepotism are being promoted in the purchase of wheat by the food department in defiance of government orders by ignoring the local landlords.
According to sources, the Food Department of Dera Ismail Khan is buying wheat at cheaper rate from Punjab which is Rs. 7,300 per hundred kg sack through middlemen while ignoring the local farmers and showing an expensive price i.e Rs. 9,900 per hundred Kg sack of wheat in the purchase record.
The local landlords vowed to launch a movement against this attitude of the Department of Foods, Dera Ismail Khan.
Reportedly, the sources have also revealed that in view of the possibility of low prices of wheat in the market, the Food Department had sold 25,000 sacks of wheat in its warehouses in Dera Ismail Khan for Rs 11,500 per hundred kg sack of wheat and now they have allegedly planned to buy wheat on open market rate which is Rs 7,300 through middlemen from Punjab and store it back in government godowns.
ایک ارب ڈالر کے گندم درآمدی اسکینڈل،وزیراعظم شہباز شریف ذمہ داران کیخلاف فوجداری کاروائی کروانے میں ہچکچاہٹ کا شکار
نیب یا ایف آٗئی اے کی تحقیقات کے نتیجہ میں نگراں وفاقی کابینہ کو شامل تفتیش ہونا پڑے گا۔حکومت انوار الحق کاکڑ اور انکی کابینہ کیخلاف کاروائی نہیں کرنا چاہتی#wheat pic.twitter.com/IALbA2DgnR— Sohail Iqbal Bhatti (@sohaileqbal1) May 7, 2024
It should be remembered that when the provincial food minister Zahir Shah Toro came to Dera Ismail Khan, he was neither met by the landowners nor was the news of his arrival given to any relevant forum.
In this regard, the delegation of the Chamber of Agriculture met the District Food Controller Adil Badshah under the leadership of President of the Chamber of Agriculture Haji Abdul Rasheed Dhap.
Haroon Awan Advocate, Muhammad Saleem, Sultan Jhandir, Sanaullah Isra and others were part of the delegation.
On this occasion, the delegation informed the District Food Controller about their reservations, on which the District Food Controller expressed harsh attitude towards the delegation of the Chamber of Agriculture, on which bitter words were also exchanged.
The delegation of the Chamber of Agriculture expressed great regret at the attitude of DFC and said that instead of cooperating with us, they are behaving badly and are usurping the rights of the landowners.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Agriculture on Tuesday held an emergency press conference in regard to buying wheat from Punjab while ignoring the local farmers.
President of the Chamber of Agriculture, Haji Abdul Rasheed Dhap and other speakers, while addressing the emergency press conference, said that the visit of the provincial food minister was kept secret yesterday and landlords were not allowed to meet him.
The District Food Controller’s (DFC) attitude towards the landlords is harsh and wrong.
“Although 3 lakh tonnes of wheat is available with the farmers of Dera, buying wheat from Punjab is unthinkable,” they said, adding that the Food Department is buying wheat at a cheaper rate from Punjab through middlemen.
“If the attempts are made to buy wheat from Punjab, we will close the Dera-Darya Khan bridge,” they vowed.
They said that the landlords are ready to clash with the mafia.
The further added that our wheat should be bought at the official rate otherwise the Chamber of Agriculture will not accept any attempt to reduce the rate by finding defects in it.
They further said that when they met the DFC, he said that the wheat of Dera landlords will be taken for 10 days and that of Punjab for 10 days which is an injustice towards the local landlords.
They recalled that when there was a flour crisis in KPK during the floods, at that time Punjab did not gave us a grain of wheat and banned the trade of wheat.
“Rather, even the wheat of our “Kacha” region was not allowed to cross the bridge,” they said.
They alleged that they have also come to know that DFC has arranged with the landlords of Punjab through contractors.
The representatives of the Chamber of Agriculture demanded from Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sardar Ali Amin Khan Gandapur and Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi that the local landlords should be given their right.
