Punjab govt tightens noose around corrupt officials of food department

LAHORE: The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab has tightened noose around the corrupt elements in the provincial food department and arrested 10 employees in different cities, ARY News reported on Monday.

The latest action was taken against the corrupt officials involved in the wheat scandal as the ACE Punjab officials arrested three assistant food controllers, three food inspectors, three senior clerks and a gatekeeper of the provincial department from different cities.

In a raid, assistant food controller Masood Ahmed and food inspector Malik Saeed were arrested in Attock, whereas, the ACE officials nabbed assistant food controller Arif Hussain, food inspector Muhammad Amin and senior clerk Muhammad Imran from Jhelum.

In Multan raid, senior clerks including Muhammad Hanif and Muhammad Pervaiz and gatekeeper Muhammad Ajmal have been arrested.

According to the officials, the raids were being conducted across the province to arrest 155 suspected employees of the Punjab food department over their alleged involvement in the wheat corruption scandal. The suspected employees of Punjab food department were accused of looting national exchequer with the nexus of the flour mill owners.

Director-General (DG) ACE Punjab Muhammad Gohar Nafees said in a statement that the corrupt elements will be taken to task.

Moreover, Punjab commerce minister Mian Aslam Iqbal chaired a meeting of the task force on price controlling today to review the rates and availability of essential commodities including flour and sugar.

Mian Aslam Iqbal said that the authorities will seal the shops for overcharging flour. He instructed authorities to ensure the sale of 10-kilogram sack of flour at the price of Rs430 and Rs860 for 20-kilogram of a flour sack.

The provincial minister said that the citizens must be given advantages of the billions worth subsidy by the government on flour. The provincial authorities have decided to expedite crackdowns against the profiteers and hoarders.

Iqbal also directed administrative officials and concerned staff to ensure their presence in the field for maintaining the prices of essential commodities.