KARACHI, April 22: The Sindh Food Department has announced wheat procurement policy for year 2004. According to instructions issued by the department to the deputy directors of food of Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur
, Larkana and Mirpurkhas, the purchase of wheat for 2004 crop shall be governed as under:
The wheat will be procured from growers on first-come first-served basis at 421 pacca centers/government godowns (PRCs) as already notified on Feb 25, 2004, and others to be notified subsequently for growers' convenience. The wheat shall be procured at the support price of Rs350 per 40kg.
Substandard quality/damaged wheat and wheat containing dust and dirt etc, shall not be accepted and in case of failure, the centre incharge concerned will be held responsible.
Regional Heads/DFCs would publicize these instructions along with center-wise procurement targets in local languages for the convenience/information of growers. These shall be displayed prominently along with support price at each procurement centre.
No grower will be provided bardana exceeding 200 bags at a time on the basis of form-7 or copy of a pass book or abyana etc. Each retrieved bags should be sprayed before utilization in order to avoid further weevilization.
The Centre incharge will be held responsible for return of bardana from growers. No bardana should remain outstanding at the end of the procurement campaign. Outstanding bardana should be adjusted before the final payment to the grower. In case of any outstanding the Centre Incharge/DFC will be held responsible.
Every bag should be stencilled properly, indicating the name or procurement centre crop year. In case of deviation, the DFC and Centre Incharge concerned will be held responsible.
Procured wheat shall be stored properly keeping in view the safety and security of wheat stocks. Field staff involved in misappropriation/defalcation should not be posted as Centre Incharge.
No wheat stocks should be kept in the premises of any private flour mill/other private place. Advance payments without receipt of wheat stocks shall be treated as serious malpractice.
Two securities of sufficient amount be obtained from every Incharge of PR/WPC. Other standing instructions relating to the wheat policy should also be adhered to strictly in the matter. -APP
