Governments, body of flour mills held responsible for wheat/flour crisis

The inquiry committee on wheat headed by the Director General FIA, has held Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFS&R) and Provincial governments and Flour Mills Association responsible for wheat/ flour crisis in the country.
According to the report, Passco failed to meet its procurement target and fell short by 0.42 million tons in a year where the national carry- forward stocks remained the lowest during the last five years. For this failure, the Secretary MNFS&R and incumbent MD Passco during the procurement season have been held responsible.
The Ministry's decision to allow the export of other wheat products like Maida and Suji on August 7, 2019 is "inexplicable" and the Secretary MNFS&R could not defend it by giving any plausible explanation of relaxing this ban. All wheat products are exported under the same code in the system of FBR and it is very difficult for even customs officers to say that wheat was exported in the grab of fine Atta and Maida. The export figures for the period August 2019 till date are however low as only 21,885 MT was exported.
The Ministry failed to timely advice the federal government for import of wheat, a policy intervention that could have effectively discouraged speculations, hoarding and profiteering that subsequently fuelled wheat shortage and price hikes.
According to the report, Punjab Food Department delayed procurement by crucial 20-22 days and ultimately failed to meet its procurement target by 0.67 million tons less in a year whereas its carry-forward stock remained the lowest during the last five years. The Punjab Food Department failed to exercise control on flourmills which resorted to profiteering campaign as they sensed the government was ill-prepared to handle the wheat demand and supply chain. A simple survey by ACE Punjab has indentified some mill owners who are involved in malpractices. Post audit of flourmills, specially those involved in such practices, needs to be conducted.
Punjab Food Department allowed, with its "tacit" approval, the poultry feed mills to purchase huge quantities of wheat from private market.
The responsibility for failure to meet procurement target lies with ex-Food Secretary, Naseem Sadiq and ex-Director Food Punjab, Dr. Zafar Iqbal, according to the report.
The responsibility for failure to procure wheat in Sindh cannot be fixed individually as the decision on summary to procure wheat was not taken by the Cabinet.
The Food Department Khyber Pakhtunkhwa failed to meet its procurement target for the last two years. The responsibility for failing to meet target lies with Ex-Secretary Food Department, Akbar Khan and Ex-Director Food Department, Saadat Hussain and The Minister for Food Qalanar Lodhi.