DADU: Former Dadu district food controller (DFO) Mansoor Ahmed Mirani has revealed that he was removed from the post for exposing six of his subordinates involved in creating a wheat shortage in the area, according to sources in the department.

The sources quoted him as saying that he had instituted an inquiry into the ‘artificial’ shortage and the probe found the six food officials, Imran Magsi, Saleem Magsi, Maqsood Khuhro, Munwar Ali Virk, Riaz Ahmed Chandio and Shahzad Ali Shahani, posted at different godowns, involved in the scam.

DFO Mirani had transferred the errant officials on the basis of the inquiry report and soon afterwards he himself was removed by the food secretary.

Citing the inquiry report, Mr Mirani said that the errant officials had sold away all the wheat stocks available at their respective godowns at a throwaway price to traders, who then made windfall profits by jacking up the market price to Rs145 a kilo, according to sources.

Before instituting the inquiry, Mr Mirani had inspected the godowns and found 150,000 100-kg bags of wheat missing. In the ensuing search, the stocks remained unaccounted for, said the sources.

Eventually, the then DFC recommended departmental action against the six officials.

However, Mr Mirani himself was transferred soon after he reported the scam to the food secretary.

According to official documents, Mr Mirani found that the officials had created an artificial shortage of wheat bags in the district by filing a false report that a huge quantity of wheat had been damaged by rain and floods. They then sold away the stocks to traders at throwaway price.

New DFC says no shortage prevails in district

Mr Mirani’s successor, DFC Shahzad Ali Shahani, has said that flour price had been fixed at Rs98 per kg (or Rs9,800 per 100kg bag). The Sindh government was selling a 100kg wheat bag at Rs8,500 to flour mills. The government fell short of meeting its supply target of 900,000 bags last year but could manage to obtain 781,000 bags in the wheat procurement season 2022, he said.

He said that 200,000 wheat bags out of 350,000 bags were available at godowns in Dadu district.

A total of 150,000 bags had been issued to flour mills and shifted to Karachi and Hyderabad godowns, he said. There was no shortage of wheat at godowns in Dadu district, he added.

Mr Mirani confirmed that he was transferred and asked to report at the food secretary office after he reported the scam and wrote to his high-ups about the actual situation.

PPP lawmaker demands probe

Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Barrister Pir Mujeebul Haq on Monday urged Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari to take action against the food officials who had created the flour crisis.

Former chief minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi also termed the flour crisis artificial and claimed that hoarders in collusion with corrupt food officials had created the situation to make windfall profits.

He told journalists at his residence that the officials sold away wheat bags after declaring them ‘damaged’ by the floodwaters. Not a single flour stall had been set up in the district to offer subsidised flour to people, he said.

Mr Jatoi held the Sindh government squarely responsible for the uncontrolled flour crisis and inflation in Dadu, and the rest of the province, and said it proved its inefficiency.

PTI leaders Sardar Ashiq Ali Zounr, Mehboob Loond and Saeed Soomro were also present.

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2023