HYDERABAD: Chakki owners staged a demonstration at press club on Sunday in protest against appointment of a tainted official as district food controller, who had entered plea bargain with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to get himself cleared of corruption charges.

They said the officials concerned of food department were emptying food godowns under a conspiracy so as to create wheat crisis to achieve their nefarious designs.

Haji Mohammad Memon, president of the chakki owners’ association, general secretary Haji Najmuddin, and treasurer Shafiq Qureshi, who led the protest, accused the food department officers of being involved in massive corruption, loot and plunder.

They said that the tainted DFC Hassan Ali Magsi charges had been given additional charge of this post. The DFC Magsi attended his office along with gunmen to show as if he was sent by food minister “to conquer Hyderabad”. He had assigned Mohammad Ali Magsi, in-charge Hali Road food godown, additional duty to inspect chakkis and surprisingly, this official too faced an inquiry for adulteration in wheat stocks in the godown, they said.

Move termed bid to create wheat crisis

They said that the official flour rate was fixed without including Rs22 overhead charges incurred by chakki owners.

They criticised fixation of Rs10,000 per 100kg support price and said that chakki owners were not being provided wheat as per their daily requirement and hence it was leading to unfair distribution of the grain.

They regretted that there was nobody to rein in the corrupt officials. Chakkis in Hyderabad were provided 140 kilogram of wheat per stone in October whereas the district administration had not fixed rate of flour till Oct 23.

Chakki owners had not lifted the quota released for them in the month of October and it was a slap on the faces of the food officials, they said.

They said that if food officials did not make amends they would widen their protest and might shut down chakkis for an indefinite period. The food department had surpassed all limits in committing excesses against chakki owners, they said.

They said that provision of inadequate quota of wheat to chakkis had created several questions while the food godowns were being emptied under some conspiracy by officials of the food department so that wheat crisis could be created to achieve nefarious designs. It seemed the food department had been ‘auctioned off’, they said.

They urged Sindh government to immediately intervene in the department and deplored the fact that the department had provided 7,400 bags of 100kg to eight roller flours mills of Hyderabad district and supplied only 140 bags per stone to chakkis.

They said that the roller flour mills extracted ingredients like super fine flour and granulated wheat from the grain in order to sell flour at Rs65 per kg, which they were selling from a limited of stalls set up at select locations across the city.

They said that chakki owners sold wheat flour with all these ingredients. The mills were not selling flour to retailers across the city and were asking them to purchase the flour from the stalls, they said, adding the millers were selling 10kg of wheat for Rs970.

They said that attempts were being made to create a divide in the association.

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2022