Lahore: A significant theft of wheat at the Punjab Food Department’s Gujranwala PR Center has been uncovered, involving 1422 metric tons of the grain and implicating nine department employees in the scandal.
According to Punjab Food Department announcement issued on 22 August 2024, an internal investigation revealed the illegal sale of government-owned wheat to private flour mills, leading to the discovery of the missing wheat. Legal complaints have been lodged against the involved employees under the Anti-Corruption Act, and they also face departmental actions.
Secretary Food Punjab Moazzam Iqbal Sipra has ordered a province-wide audit of all warehouses and has taken disciplinary action against several employees for forgery and negligence under the PEEDA Act. The department’s spokesperson emphasized that the ongoing “Operation Clean Up” aims to eliminate corruption within the department.