SUKKUR, Nov 2: Nine food inspectors were suspended in Naushahro Feroze district and three in Dadu on Friday.

The provincial food secretary has suspended nine food inspectors and supervisors of Naushahro Feroze district on charge of embezzlement in the government wheat.

Different wheat procurement centres in Naushahro Feroze had procured wheat in excess of the target, which was embezzled by the officials, causing huge loss to the government revenue.

The secretary ordered an inquiry against the officials involved.

Those suspended were all in-charges of the Bhiria Road procurement centre, Altaf Hussain Kiryo; Kalhora station and Pir Sadiq centre, Anwer Rajput; Behroti centre, Bakshal Sial; Slaman Burdi centre, Khalid Masood Abbasi; Kamal Dero centre, Rustam Gopang, Shahpur Jahania, Nawa Jatoi, and Misry Wah centres Zahoor Ahmed Deeper; Phul centre, Gada Hussain Khoso, Qamer Din Chandio, and Goth Maula Bux Samijo centres, Ahmed Khan Rahoo.

Our Dadu correspondent adds: Three food inspectors were suspended and four others were issued show-cause notices on charges of embezzlement during wheat procurement season 2001.

About three months back, the DFC Dadu, Qutubuddin Tebani, had sent a report to the secretary of the food department against seven officials, stating that they had sold the “Bardana” to some influential traders and embezzled millions of rupees.

On Friday, on the directives of the secretary, the deputy director, Hyderabad, suspended three inspectors — Shamsul Arifeen, Muhammad Ibrahim, Muhammad Channa — and issued show- cause notices to four others, including Qazi Aftab, Ghulam Murtaza Radhan, Yaqoob Qureshi and Syed Altaf.

A departmental inquiry had also been initiated against ten other food officials, including assistant food controllers, senior clerks and four ex-district food controllers of Dadu.

The anti-corruption police had also registered corruption cases against 16 food officials in 2001, but none of them was arrested. It was further learnt that some former food officials of Dadu in connivance with high officials of the department and district accounts office had allegedly issued cheques for Rs20 million to some influential contractors in the head of transportation and other items in 1999.

The departmental inquiries were initiated twice in 2000 but were stopped suddenly.