During the caretaker government, initially, a summary of 1 million tons of wheat import was prepared for strategic reserves, but in reality, 2.778 thousand tons of wheat were ordered, according to the documents available with SAMAA TV.
According to the documents, the first summary of wheat import was sent to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on July 27, 2023, under the supervision of Food Security Minister Tariq Bashir Cheema, which was postponed on August 8 by the ECC meeting chaired by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. The government ended.
On September 1, 2023, Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, as the Minister of Food Security, sent the summary to the caretaker government, while Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar was also the caretaker prime minister at that time.
According to the letter issued by the caretaker prime minister's office on September 4, the summary was sent to the Ministry of Food Security with some changes. Directed to send again to ECC.
On the order of caretaker prime minister Kakar, under his supervision, the Ministry of Food Security called a consultative meeting of the stakeholders of the private and public sectors. While the private sector imported wheat cannot come to Pakistan without permission from the Plant Protection Department of the Ministry of Food Security.
In the meeting, private sector companies made a conditional offer to import another 13 lakh 40 thousand tons of wheat.
On the summary of wheat import, the Ministry of Commerce under the supervision of Gohar Ejaz simultaneously supported the import of 10 lakh tonnes of wheat with the conditions of regular approval from the government in addition to G-20 and open tendering.
Dr. Shamshad Akhtar's Ministry of Finance opposed the official import of wheat through the Trading Corporation.
The Ministry of Finance suggested that due to the exemption of customs duty and sales tax on wheat, the import of wheat through the private sector will be more efficient.
On October 10, 2023, the Secretary of the Ministry of Food Security, Muhammad Mehmood, prepared a summary of the import of 10 lakh tons of wheat through TCP, in which the private sector was also allowed to import wheat.
During the current government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, 691 thousand tons were ordered and tonnes of wheat reached Pakistan.
The federal government is conducting an inquiry into the wheat import scandal.
It is also important to think about the point that who is the facilitator of 65 private sector companies selling wheat imported at Rs3200 per maund at 4300 rupees in the market.
