Eight officers suspended as KP’s wheat procurement marred by irregularities

PESHAWAR: The wheat procurement process in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, worth Rs29 billion, is under way, however, eight officers from the food department have been suspended in five districts for violating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and committing irregularities during the procurement process, official sources told HUM News English.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Secretary Zarif-ul-Maani, has de-notified two representatives of the Flour Mills Association from the Food Procurement Committees in Abbottabad and Mardan for SOP violations within the past week.

Additionally, due to SOP violations and complaints, District Food Controller (DFC) Abbottabad Shad Khan, Deputy Director Food Kohat Division Riaz Karim, Assistant Food Controller (AFC) Durgae Malakand Attaullah Khan, AFC Haripur Preistan, among others, have been suspended, sources said adding that the DFC Malakand has been transferred to the directorate.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa food department senior officials told HUM News English that action was being taken against food officers for their alleged involvement in irregularities. However, the senior officials also raised concerns about the performance of district officers, commissioners, and deputy commissioners, questioning how many of them have visited different points in their districts to assess and see the procurement process.

Also read: Brokers influencing KP wheat procurement

KP Minister for Food Zahir Shah Toro told HUM News English that he was under tremendous pressure regarding wheat procurement. He noted that due to a lack of economic activities in the province over the past two years, people were now seizing this opportunity, leading to numerous complaints due to the haste.

The provincial food minister also mentioned that the process of procure wheat from the open markets of KP and Punjab was ongoing.

The KP government has decided to purchase 0.3 million metric tons of wheat from the open market this season, with a total value of Rs29 billion.

Following this decision, wheat brokers from Punjab and KP have started investing heavily in the procurement process, planning to buy wheat cheaply from Punjab farmers and sell it at higher prices in KP.

To date, the KP food department has purchased 0.120 million metric tons of wheat across 22 centres in the province.