Smuggling, hoarding of essential commodities: Centre directs Sindh govt to fix officials, mill owners

KARACHI: The Ministry of Interior has instructed the Sindh government to take a strict action against the individuals involved in the smuggling and hoarding of essential commodities, including wheat, sugar, and fertilizer.

This directive also targets flour mill owners using substandard wheat and their facilitators in the Sindh Food Department.

In an official correspondence, Shaukat Ali Khan, Section Officer of the Ministry of Interior, shared an intelligence report identifying over 300 smugglers, hoarders, mill owners, and complicit officers. The provincial government has been urged to take a stern action against all the individuals listed in the report.

In response, the Sindh government has formed a four-member committee to address the issue.

The committee is headed by a deputy commissioner and includes Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), deputy food controller, and deputy director of the Sindh Anti-Corruption Establishment.

This committee is tasked with implementing the federal government’s directives and ensuring rigorous enforcement against the offenders.

The committee would probe the issues of 29 districts of including Umarkot, Mirpukhas, Mithi, Hyderabad, Qamber, Shahdadkot, Jamshor, Dadu, Qamabr-Shahdadkot, Matiari, Sukkur, Jacobabad, Ghotki, Jamshoro, Korangi, Khairpur, Badin, Malir, South, Mirpurkhas, Shaheed Benazirabad, Noshahroferoz, Sanghar, Larkana, Shikarpur and Kashmore.

The committee has been directed by the chief secretary to recommend disciplinary action against the guilty officers.

The official list also contained the names and addresses of the hoarders of fertilizer, wheat, and sugar.