PEW lashes government for allowing import of wheat despite bumper crops

Lahore: The Pakistan Economy Watch asked the Supreme Court to look into wheat scam which benefitted few at the cost of millions of farmers, consumers and public exchequer. Government allowed import of wheat despite bumper crops since two years and surplus stocks giving opportunity to private sector and flour mills mafia to dump seven lakh tonnes of substandard wheat. The import destabilised local market forcing farmers to sell their commodity at reduced rates and transformed issue of surplus stock into a national concern, it said.

Inferior quality of imported wheat is now consumed by masses while millers are not buying grain from government which has compromised capacity of food departments to return loans obtained from banks, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President PEW. Therefore, billions are being paid to banks as interest which would have not been the problem if import of wheat wasn’t allowed by the ECC.

Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that the ECC decision resulted in massive exodus of foreign exchange, exploitation of masses and farmers and profited few at the cost of common man. Wheat import in twenty shipments was not possible without full information of ECC, ministries of finance, food, and commerce, Plant Protection Agency, State Bank of Pakistan and commercial banks, shipping and port authorities, Customs, Customs Intelligence, and FBR etc.

The Apex court must probe as to why all departments preferred silence and later Sindh Government wrote a letter to Centre to absolve itself of responsibility while Food Ministry gave itself and Finance Ministry a clean chit by holding a press conference. Government departments should be stopped from releasing misleading information and the licences of importers and flour millers must be cancelled while the politicians patronising them should be brought to the book, demanded Dr. Mughal.