August 29, 2002	Thursday	Jamadi-us-Saani 19,1423

KARACHI, Aug 28: The Secretary, Sindh Food Department, Imtiaz Kazi, has expressed confidence of the provincial government maintaining a steady wheat supply till next harvest in March 2003.

“The government of Sindh is confident that there will be no supply problem,” Mr Kazi stressed on Wednesday in a clarification statement while responding to a news item published in Dawn same day which suggests provincial government is heading for a financial crisis because of Rs10 billion plus bank loans stuck up with 950,000 tons of wheat stock. The news also apprehended wheat supply problem in the coming winters.

He said that wheat offtake from the government storages would begin in September. He expects disposal of considerable amount of wheat from 945,000 tons of stock by March next, which would generate substantial money to pay off the loans and accumulated interest.

As regards damage to the wheat, the secretary believes only “a negligible percentage has got weevilled due to natural reasons.” He contends that wheat procurement by the provincial governments and Passco on a price higher than market price is a federal government policy. Bank borrowing for this purpose and payment of mark-up is to help the small farmers and to encourage them for further cultivation of wheat.

Our Staff Reporter adds: There is not a word on the current financial liability on the Sindh government because of the accumulation of 945,000 wheat stock for the last three years in the five paragraph detailed statement of the food secretary. This is the crux of the Dawn story published on Wednesday.

If the offtake from the government wheat stock had remained normal in the last three years and millers were paying normal issue price to the Food Department then how come the total financial liability has gone up to Rs10 billion plus. The secretary has offered no explanation and there is reason to apprehend that this liability is mounting every passing day and will be passed on to the next elected government after October.

Needless to say that there is a nexus of big feudals, corrupt officials of Food Department and the unscrupulous millers, who for years together, have been exploiting the consumers and small growers. They continue to do so till this day. The millers increased the flour price on the Independence Day. They are eyeing on the current crop wheat stock in the government storages is no secret and has been mentioned in the story.