MULTAN: The district administration has failed to stop the theft of subsidised sugar as another huge stock of the imported sugar was recovered from a food factory on Saturday.

It is the second incident of the recovery of subsidised sugar from any food factory within a week.

According to an official handout, the food factory was sealed after the subsidised sugar was recovered.

It is stated that 125 bags of imported sugar were recovered when Assistant Commissioner (City) Khwaja Umair Mahmood conducted a raid on the factory in the Timber Market while two persons were also arrested.

According to the AC, during the raid it was revealed that 350 bags of subsidised sugar were previously used by the factory administration to make various food items. He said the sugar dealer who provided the subsidised sugar to the factory was also being traced and strict legal action would be taken against him.

“The subsidised sugar is the right of the citizens and it is available in huge stock at the selling points of the city at Rs90 per kg,” he added.

It is pertinent to mention here that instead of lodging the first information report (FIR) against the owner of the food factory, the district administration had submitted an complaint against an employee of the factory as it did in the previous case when AC Mahmood had found a huge stock of the susidised sugar in a biscuit factory on Oct 30. The FIR was lodged against two employees of the factory then but not against the owner.

It was claimed in the official handout on Saturday that two persons have been arrested but as per the complaint for the FIR, only one person, namely Saeed Ahmad, the manager of the factory, had been arrested.

According to the application, submitted with the Qutabpur Police Station by Special Price Control Magistrate Malik Naeem Abid, the factory administration informed that the subsidised sugar was provided by Haji Sattar, the owner of Shakeel Kariyana Ghala Mandi.

“Both the factory and its godown where the sugar, meant for the citizens, was stored have been sealed by the AC City,” stated the price magistrate while recommending an FIR against the manager and the dealer.

Sources said when the a huge stock of sugar was recovered from a biscuit factory on Oct 30, the district administration had claimed to have sealed the factory but later on the pressure from various influential corners was allegedly put on the district administration and the factory was unsealed unofficially with the claims that only the warehouses were sealed.

DC Amir Karim Khan was not available for comments despite various attempts.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2021