KARACHI: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday ordered disciplinary action against six District Food Controllers for failing to provide audit records worth more than Rs58 billion while expressing concern that Sindh’s failure to meet its wheat procurement target could leave the province vulnerable to future wheat shortages and rising flour prices.

The directives were issued during a PAC meeting chaired by Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, where members questioned the disappearance of audit records involving billions of rupees and the food department’s poor wheat procurement performance.

The audit officials informed the committee that records related to more than Rs58bn in expenditures and transactions had not been provided by food authorities in several districts, raising fears of irregularities and financial mismanagement.

The PAC directed the food department to initiate action against six officials responsible for withholding the records.

The missing records include Rs21.27bn from Larkana, Rs16.81bn from Khairpur, Rs9.88bn from Shikarpur, Rs7.22bn from Malir, Rs3.08bn from Karachi and Rs254 million from Mithi, among others.

The PAC was informed that the Departmental Accounts Committee (DAC) had previously recommended action against the officials responsible for withholding the records, but no action had been taken so far.

During the meeting, the District Food Controller of Khairpur claimed that the records had been seized by the anti-corruption establishment, making them unavailable for audit.

The meeting revealed that against a procurement target of one million metric tons of wheat for the current financial year, the department had purchased only 81,000 metric tons. The officials attributed the shortfall to higher wheat prices in the open market.

“The government procures wheat to maintain strategic reserves and stabilise flour prices during shortages,” Mr Khuhro said, adding: “How the province would respond to any future wheat crisis if procurement targets continued to be missed. The flour mills are already relying on market purchases while flour prices remained high.”

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2026