TAXILA, Oct 26: The truckers association has threatened to suspend supply of wheat from Karachi to the gowdowns of Taxila against maltreatment and delaying tactics of the local food department officials.

Talking to newsmen here, chairman All-Pakistan Truck Owners Association Nisar Hussain Awan said they would go on a strike if the officials of the food department did not mend their ways. He claimed that the food department officials deployed at the reserved gowdowns of Taxila and Wah Cantt were involved in malpractices, corruption and were Amisbehaving with the staff of trucks.

He said the food department officials forced truck drivers to stay outside the gowdowns for two to five days leading not only to damages to the loaded vehicles’ tyres but also to financial losses as the vehicles remained idle. He also alleged that the food department officials also charged Rs500 per truck for unloading the wheat.

He said when the truck crew demanded early clearance of their vehicles and unloading of the wheat, the officials humiliated them. He said despite all odds, goods transporters had continued uninterrupted supply of the commodity in the interest of the masses. However, he said, the truckers would go on an indefinite strike if their demands were not met.

No official of the food department was available for comments.

Flour smuggling: The Taxila police claimed to have foiled a bid to smuggle flour from Punjab to NWFP and arrested the smuggler.

Sources said the food department with the assistance of the police confiscated the 220 bags of flour which were being smuggled from Taxila to NWFP via Hazara in a trailer (Peshawar-1190). A case has been registered against the smuggler identified as Asghar.