April 17, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 10, 1429

ISLAMABAD, April 16: The Federal Food Committee (FFC) has asked the ministries of food and commerce to investigate the delay in the arrival of imported wheat that aggravated the shortage and caused the flour price to rise again.

The ministries have been informed that the completion of shipment of 1.7 million tons of wheat was delayed in ‘a pre-planned manner’ at a time when farmers in Punjab and Sindh were just harvesting the new crop.

The shipment should have been completed by March 15 under the contracts awarded by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan.

The last ship is expected to berth at Karachi port on April 27 after a delay of about one and a half months.

Sources said more than 35 per cent of the imported wheat had not arrived on time.

They said the FFC believed that the import contracts had been awarded to people who were in no position to ensure timely delivery.

The committee also asked the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock to investigate if bidding rules had been violated in the award of contracts.

The sources said the FFC had reservations about TCP’s inability to make the contractors meet the deadline at a time when the nation faced severe flour shortage.

They said the committee has also sought an investigation into the smuggling of 1.5 million tons of wheat this season, another reason behind the shortage.

The FFC told the Ministry of Food to lead efforts to unmask the people involved in smuggling in order to avert its recurrence.