DADU, April 9 Food officials suspended wheat procurement at the designated centres of the district on Friday to protest against threats allegedly hurled on the district food controller (DFC) by State Minister for Food and Agriculture Rafique Ahmed Jamali and his brother forcing them to provide more gunny bags. They gathered outside the DFC office in Dadu and demonstrated against the two.
The District Food Controller, Zahid Hussain Khakhrani, said that out of 900,000 gunny bags, 90,000 had been provided to the brother of the minister and their supporters and alleged that the minister was forcing him to issue more gunny bags.
He said that on refusal, the minister hurled threats on him adding that he would resign from his post if a such situation prevailed.
When contacted, the minister said that neither he nor his brother had issued threats to the DFC but he had received complaints against the officials of selling gunny bags to traders. Hence he asked the DFC to conduct an inquiry and for that reason the officer was blaming him and his brother, Mr Jamali said.
He said that to protect himself from corruption charges, the DFC was levelling baseless allegations.
Meanwhile, growers staged a demonstration on the Indus Highway at Makhdoom Bilawal for not providing them gunny bags and refusal of the food department to procure wheat. They also burnt tyres and blocked traffic.
Their leaders, Zahid Hussain Kabooro, alleged that the DFC had fixed Rs50 to 60 per gunny bag and was selling it to traders. He also endorsed minister's version by saying that the DFC was not providing gunny bags to growers.
Our Hyderabad bureau adds The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture at a meeting here on Friday expressed concern over shortage of gunny bags for the procurement of wheat from growers, and urged the provincial government to increase the supply of gunny bags for the benefit of small growers.
The meeting said that due to shortage of gunny bags, the small growers were being fleeced by the middlemen and the traders as they had no option but to sell wheat at the rate of Rs850 per 40kg against the government-fixed price of Rs950 per 40kg.
It warned that if an acute shortage of gunny bags persisted, the situation would become untenable and the government would be responsible for consequences.
The meeting expressed concern over shortage of water in Sindh and demanded that water apportionment accord 1991 be implem- ented in letter and spirit and the province's share of water be calculated at Guddu Barrage.
It alleged that a particular province continued to steal water of Sindh.
The senior vice-president of the chamber, Mir Murad Ali Khan Talpur, presided over the meeting.
