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HYDERABAD, Feb 27: The Sindh Abadgar Board has demanded that an inquiry should be held into the purchase and import of substandard wheat from Australia.
In a statement on Friday, the board president Majeed Nizamani said the Indian tender of 185 dollar per tonne of wheat was rejected on the ground that it was substandard and wheat of Australia was purchased at the rate of 224 dollar per tonne.
He said this wheat was also found substandard and injurious to human health. Mr Nizamani said the country had suffered a loss of Rs1.5 billion on the wheat import transaction due to the criminal negligence of the authorities concerned.
He accused the people concerned of taking commission in the import of substandard wheat. He said those involved in the deal should be asked to deposit Rs1.5 billion in the national exchequer.
PROCESSION: A large number of mini taxi and rickshaw drivers here on Thursday took out a procession on their vehicles to protest against decrepit conditions of roads and entry of local buses in the city.
Speaking on the occasion, Mini Taxi Workers Union and Light Transport Rickshaw Drivers Union leaders Saleem Khan, Mohammad Naqi, Mohammad Zaman, Moosa Khokhar and others claimed that entry of heavy traffic, including buses, was banned in urban towns of Sindh but in Hyderabad buses had been permitted to ply on city roads.
They said this had resulted in many fatal accidents. They demanded that repair of roads should be included in the Rs10.5 billion Hyderabad Development Package.
They said in addition to the general public, Suzuki and rickshaw drivers were the worse sufferers as their vehicles had been badly damaged. The union leaders criticized the local councils for charging parking fee from mini taxi and rickshaw drivers without providing facilities of parking stands and health and sanitation.
They said the government had banned registration of rickshaws in July 2001 but illegal registration had been granted to over 3,000 rickshaws after the ban. They warned to continue their struggle till the acceptance of their demands.
