Amidst food shortage in a crisis hit Pakistan, a case has been registered against 11 people including a revenue Patwari and a civil defence official for stealing 8,000 bags of flour in Chiniot.
Some counterfeit tokens were found at a flour distribution centre at the Government Islamia College, Chiniot, according to the FIR filed at the city police station under Sections 420 and 408 of the Pakistan Criminal Code.
On the application of assistant commissioner office clerk Muhammad Hassan, the police have arrested patwari Omair Nawaz, civil defence official Iqbal, employee Zeeshan Ali of Mulsim Flour Mills, Mulazim Hussain, Amjad Hussain, Farooq Azam, Munawar Hussain, Fakhar Imam, Shaukat Ali, Sarfraz Ahmad, and Manzar Abbas.
Omair Nawaz was in charge of the record of tokens being issued to recipients of bags and admitted to stealing around 7,000 to 8,000 tokens, costing the national exchequer approximately Rs 5 to 6 million. In addition, four persons have been arrested by police, and more are being arrested in ongoing raids.
The staff has so far delivered 500,000 bags around the Chiniot district. According to Assistant Commissioner Majid Bin Ahmad, the patwari has been fired and a Punjab Workers Efficiency and Discipline Act investigation has been opened against him. The fraud casts doubt on the operation of the government-run charity scheme.
Meanwhile, Bar Secretary Shahid Yakoob raised concern that there might be more such facilitators in the Revenue Department adding that weak FIRs against such people will be enough as they would manage to get relief from the courts. He further urged the caretaker CM Syed Mohsin Naqvi to order a high-level inquiry into the scam.
On one hand, Pakistani officials are allegedly stealing flour bags adding to an already over-burdened national exchequer, on the other, Pakistan’s central bank increased its key interest rate by 100 basis points (BPS) to a record 21% in a bid to curb skyrocketing food inflation. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has hiked its key rate by a cumulative 1025 bps since January 2022.
The government started a programme to give free wheat to low-income families throughout the holy month to lessen the effects of record-breaking inflation and accelerating poverty. However, the initiative resulted in violence and stampedes, which has resulted in at least 21 fatalities since the beginning of Ramazan.
