Daily Times

KARACHI: Punjab Food Minister Samiullah Chaudhry has resigned from his post, media reported on Monday. The high profile resignation came in wake of the wheat and sugar scandal report that was made public a few days ago.

n his resignation, Chaudhry said he resigned after meeting Chief Minister Punjab, Usman Buzdar.

In the letter, the provincial food minister said that he faced allegation that he could not bring reforms in the department, adding that until the clearance of accusations he would not hold any government office.

The report prepared by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on wheat-sugar crisis in the country had found food minister guilty of taking benefit among other government officials and prominent political figures.

The Punjab Food Department dragged its feet to maintain sufficient stock of wheat in the province and also failed to iron out a demand and supply mechanism, it claimed, adding the department didn’t take timely decisions to redress the situation.

The report further revealed that on December 13, 2019, the Competition Commission of Pakistan imposed a fine Rs75 million on the flour mills, which the association challenged in court.

The report states that the investigation procedure of the CCP is very slow as in 13 years, the CCP has only been able to recover Rs33.3 million of Rs27 billion imposed fines.

It held Chaudhry, former food secretary Naseem Sadiq and former food director Zafar Iqbal responsible for not meeting the target of wheat purchase and taking timely measures to avert the crisis in Punjab.