GUJRANWALA, Sept 24: A Utility Store lying closed for the last twenty days was opened by police on court orders, registering a case against its in charge for allegedly embezzling articles worth Rs1.3 million at Khiali Shahpur on Wednesday.
Reports said the Sardar Colony store was closed by its in charge Nadeem during the first week of Ramazan who disappeared after the closure. Following public protest, the Utility Store Corporation’s Regional Manager Kashif Shehzad got court orders to open the outlet.
On opening the store and checking the record it was revealed that articles worth Rs1.3 million were missing from the stock. Police registered a case against the in charge on embezzlement charges.
The USC regional manager also initiated a departmental probe into the matter during which it was pointed out that the warehouse in charge was also involved in scam as he handed over articles worth Rs200,000 to the store in charge on Sept 7 despite the fact that the outlet was closed on September 5.
The inquiry committee was investigating how the supply of articles continued to the store despite its closure some 20 days earlier.
Meanwhile, prime minister’s adviser Manzoor Wattoo, who also heads Utility Stores Corporation, has also sought a report on the matter.
FLOURMILLS SEALED: The Food Department’s special team sealed two flour mills, including the one owned by the Flourmills Association district head and took record into custody over ‘anomalies’ here on Wednesday.
Reports said District Food Controller Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor received information that supply of flour bags being supplied in the market by the mills owned by the association’s district president, Saeed Gohar at Lohianwala Chowk and Javed Mehmood of Alipur Chattha were not in accordance with the official specifications while records was also not maintained properly.
The DFC, along with his staff, conducted raids at the mills and sealed them, also initiating an inquiry after taking all relevant record into custody. The mills were reportedly supplying substandard flour to the consumers who complained about the irregularity to the Food Department demanding action against the owners.
UPLIFT SCHEMES: A meeting chaired by regional coordinator and attended by provincial assembly members and officers from the district discussed various development schemes on which Punjab government’s grants for MPA will be spent.
The provincial government will give Rs40 million to each MPA for the development projects proposed by them till Sept 30.
The meeting discussed the schemes related to education, health, construction of roads, provision of potable water and drainage etc. The meeting was attended by MPAs Khalid Pervaiz Virk, Qasir Iqbal Sandhu, Mumtaz Hashmi, Imran Khalid Butt, District Coordination Officer Dr Pervaiz Ahmad Khan, Gujranwala Development Authority (GDA) Director General Tahir Yousaf, EDO (Revenue) Nasir Iqbal Malik and other officers.