Punjab wheat-laden trucks entry: Sindh food department accused of extorting bribe

Sindh Food Department is once again making illegal use of its powers as every wheat-loaded truck from Punjab has to pay Rs 15,000-Rs 20,000 as bribe to enter the province. Sources told Business Recorder that going beyond the constitution has become a common practice of Sindh Food Department.
The Punjab Food Department has written 3 letters to the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock (Minfal) in this regard but the atrocities committed by Sindh Food Department regarding the movement of wheat from Punjab are still going on.
They said, "It is really very unfair that officials of Sindh Food Department are taking bribe to let every wheat-loaded truck from Punjab enter Sindh".
They said that the Punjab Food Department has 2.1 million tons wheat storage capacity but last year it stored 6.6 million tons wheat, while Public Sector organisations including Punjab Food Department and Passco had to purchase nearly 4.7 million tons wheat this year from Punjab, but just to save its money, it has delayed the procurement.
Currently, public sector organisations, including provincial food departments, have over 4 million tons of wheat stocks as since 2008-09,the country has produced bumper wheat crops.
In 2008-09 Pakistan harvested 24 million tons of the commodity, and in 2009-10 it harvested 23.86 million tons of wheat, while this year Minfal officials are estimating that wheat production would cross 25 million tons and would be around 25.5-26 million tons, which would be record production in Pakistan''s history.
In October 2010 the government fixed wheat production target for 2011 at 25 million tons and Minfal officials as well as growers are hoping that Pakistan would produce record wheat this year due to favourable weather conditions and high yield.
Pakistan''s domestic wheat requirement is around 21.7 million tons and last year the government has allowed the traders to export 3 million tons of the commodity, of which about 1.2 million tons has been exported.
Sources stated that the Punjab Food Department started wheat procurement from April 20 while Ibrahim Mughal, Chairman Agri-Forum told Business Recorder that Passco has still not started wheat procurement in Punjab. Earlier, Passco had announced to start wheat procurement on April 20 which was revised and it was decided that the process will be started on April 25, then again it was revised to April 27 but no procurement has still been made so far. "Now Passco has announced for the fourth time to start procurement from May 1", Ibrahim Mughal said.
He said, "For the last 25 years, wheat has been procured by Passco in April because delay in purchase forces the growers to sell their commodity to the middleman at price less than the procurement price fixed by the government. The poor wheat growers do not have the storage capacity. So, they are forced to sell their commodity to the middlemen."