The Punjab caretaker government on Sunday termed corruption allegations made by PML-N’s Shahid Khaqan Abbasi regarding the free flour distribution programme “false and fabricated”.

A day earlier, the PML-N leader — who is part of a group of political mavericks holding a series of nationwide seminars on the current challenges being faced by the country in an effort to develop a consensus on the future course of action required to be taken by all stakeholders to bring Pakistan out of the present mess — had alleged that Rs20 billion was looted during the free floor distribution programme, which was first rolled out in Punjab.

At a seminar at Lahore’s Government College University (GCU), the PML-N leader had talked at length about the issues plaguing governance in the country.

“Whenever there is a problem, the officer is changed but the system remains the same. The officer just fixes a few things. We now identify honest officers. There was a time when we identified dishonest officers,” he said.

“Recently, Rs84bn worth of [free] flour was distributed. I am sorry to say that approximately Rs20bn was looted.

“Look at it any which way. What has the poor man gotten for whom you spent Rs84bn?” he asked, stating that it was impossible to deliver on promises within the current system of governance and called for it to be “redefined”.

“The whole system needs to be changed. It has become so corrupt that it cannot deliver, whether in the Centre or the provinces.”

Although the PML-N leader did not single out the Punjab government, provincial Interim Information Minister Amir Mir issued a statement on Sunday and termed Abbasi’s allegations to be “false and fabricated”. He said that the provincial government had provided relief to millions of beneficiaries under the programme.

“There wasn’t even an ounce of corruption,” Mir said, adding that those making the claims had damaged their own credibility.

The Punjab minister claimed that the free flour distribution programme was the province’s most successful scheme yet under which approximately 30 million people were provided free flour during the month of Ramazan.

Mir highlighted the free flour scheme was jointly funded by both the federal and the provincial government. He lamented that the programme had become a target due to the internal political differences within the PML-N.

The provincial caretaker minister urged Abbasi to either apologise or provide evidence to back the allegations.

“The caretaker Punjab government believes in transparency and impartiality and can give an account of every penny regarding the flour scheme. Therefore, no one can accuse it of corruption,” Mir said.

On Saturday night, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb had said that free flour was provided to millions of poor people in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Islamabad with full transparency and honesty during the difficult economic times.

“The administrative officers and staff worked day and night to make the landmark scheme a success which is commendable,” she tweeted.

On the other hand, former information minister and PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry urged the National Accountability Bureau chairman to initiate an investigation into the claims made by Abbasi and hold the Punjab government accountable.

Free flour scheme

In March, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced that “the poorest of the poor” would get wheat flour (Atta) for free during Ramazan. The package was first implemented in Punjab and then in other parts of the country.

The prime minister had directed the authorities to chalk out a strategy for the supply of flour to poor families “as soon as possible”.

However, the programme was marred by violence and deaths as citizens thronged distribution points amid a significant increase in inflation in the country. Incidents of stampede, chaos and snatching of flour bags at the distribution points were reported from various towns of the province.

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Earlier this month, Punjab caretaker government succumbed to the pressure of the federal authorities and approved expansion of the project at an additional cost of Rs35 billion.

The package was to initially cost around Rs53bn to the provincial kitty as the government was to release 537,000 tonnes of wheat from its stocks to the flour mills for grinding and providing the commodity at the distribution points. The operational cost – administration, security and transportation – of the project was estimated to be Rs7bn.

Sources said that neither the Punjab government, nor bureaucracy was in favour of the scheme in its present form that was leading to deaths and injuries to the deserving people due to overcrowding and mismanagement at the distribution points.

Officials engaged in the flour distribution also blamed the Punjab Information Technology Board’s ‘flawed’ app developed on the database of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) for the inordinate delays in the distribution of the commodity.

Sources said the provincial authorities made an abortive attempt to convince the premier in their March 7 meeting that deserving people should instead be paid in cash through the BISP database or provided subsidy in the powers bills for offsetting the impact of the historically high inflation.

They said the prime minister was also suggested that the subsidy on the flour which the Punjab government was already providing to the masses before setting in of Ramazan at a rate of Rs648 per 10kg bag, could be further increased to facilitate the downtrodden to avoid the mess likely to be caused by the free flour distribution at the makeshift points.

But, the premier rejected this option too and insisted on implementing the plan he desired to introduce.