April 09, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 2, 1429

JACOBABAD, April 8: The 10 trucks laden with wheat and the eight loaded with wheat flour, which the food officials had taken into custody after a raid on Friday when they were smuggling the staple food to Quetta from Khairpur, Kandhkot, Ghotki and other cities of the province, would be sold off at the government-fixed rate, said the DCO on Tuesday.

The food controller Ali Asghar Naich said that he would invite journalists to witness the trucks’ unloading at the government godowns. He took action after he received an official letter on Friday to take action against smuggling, he said, adding that earlier, he had no orders to intercept or raid the vehicles involved in smuggling of wheat and flour.

DCO Aijaz Ahmed Memon said that the 10 trucks of wheat would be sold at the official rate of Rs1,215 per 100kg and the eight trucks of flour would be sold at the rate of Rs15 per kg at the DCO Chowk on Wednesday.

Flour is being sold at Rs22 per kg in open market, defying government claims it will reduce the rate by March when wheat will be available in the market but the claims proves wrong as the district faces acute shortage of flour.

The food official said that the stock of wheat stored in government godowns was rapidly depleting.