MANSEHRA: A joint team of the district administration, police and food department on Saturday raided a godown here and seized around 50 Utility Stores flour bags.

Gulzada Khan was also arrested in the Zardabad raid led by assistant commissioner Quratul Ain.

“At the time of the raid, flour bags were being packed in bags to be sold on the market,” assistant food controller Shaukat Sultan told reporters.

He said the raiding team acted on a tip-off.

Mr Sultan said the food department had begun a crackdown on sugar and flour hoarding, price hike and adulteration, and seized thousands of bags during raids.

Official says crackdown on hoarding will continue

He said the Utility Stores flour was bought at low rate and packed in fake bags of Punjab’s flour mills before being sold at higher price on the market.

“We also seized flour packing machines and began an inquiry to ascertain whether officials of Utility Stores are involved in the fraud,” he said.

The official said such a raid on the outskirts of the city led to the seizure of over 3,000 bags of sugar hoarded for profiteering.

He said four people were arrested over hoarding.

The official said the crackdown on hoarding would continue.

HEALTHCARE DENIED: The residents of Torghar district have complained that they don’t have access to health facilities offered by the government to people of other parts of the province under the Sehat Sahulat Card programme.

“There is not a single health facility, in both public and private sectors, in our entire district under the government’s health insurance scheme to the misery of patients, who are taken to the neighbouring Mansehra and Battagram districts,” chairman of Judbah tehsil council Haji Mohammad Khan told reporters.

He complained that the district headquarters hospital couldn’t be built even eight years after its groundbreaking.

“The government released Rs700 million for the hospital building and surgical equipment but work on it has been suspended for two years,” he said.

The council chairman said former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif inaugurated road, bridge and girls school projects in the district but they all awaited start of work.

Meanwhile, Oghi tehsil council chairman Riaz Osama criticised the provincial government over failure to empanel private hospitals in the area for its Sehat Sahulat Card scheme.

He told reporters that the public sector hospitals in Oghi didn’t cater to the needs of the people and therefore, private health centres should be allowed to treat visitors under the insurance scheme.

NAMED: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has nominated former federal parliamentary secretary Sardar Shahjehan Yusuf as its president in Hazara Division.

PML-N provincial president Amir Muqam announced the nomination of Mr Yusuf for the office in a meeting in Peshawar the other day.

Meanwhile, a 20-year-old resident drowned in the Kunhar River in Balakot tehsil here on Saturday.

The incident occurred as Mohammad Umar was bathing in the river to beat the heat. He slipped into the deep water, which swept him away, according to a witness.

Rescue workers and divers began a search for the body. However, it wasn’t found until night.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2023