LARKANA, March 22: Growers will be immediately paid for wheat through banks nearest to them, for which the State Bank has issued instructions to all bank branches in Sindh.

This was stated by Sindh food secretary Mir Mohammed Parhiyar here on Sunday at a meeting of food department officials, flour mill owners and growers. He said eight check-posts had been established in Larkana, Jacobabad and Shikarpur districts to check inter- provincial wheat transportation.

He said the check-posts had been set up on district boundaries where the food department's staff would check illegal transportation of wheat. He said a target of 46,000 tonnes of wheat was fixed for the Larkana region and 46 procurement centres had been established for this purpose. More centres will be established in consultation with the growers, the secretary said.

The secretary directed the food officials to expedite their efforts in achieving the procurement target. The wheat procurement in Sindh would begin from April 1, he said, adding that it would be procured at the rate of Rs352 per 40 kilogramme.

ACE: The restructuring of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) will begin soon as the committee constituted for the purpose had okayed the proposal. This was stated by ACE Sindh chairman Shaikh Muhktiar while talking to newsmen here the other day.

He said under the plan four full-fledged directorates would be established each in the former divisional headquarters of the province. A 17-grade officer recruited through the Public Service Commission would replace the old structure of the Circle Officer ACE in every district, he added.

Mr Shaikh said investigation officials in future would be given 10 per cent of the detected fraud money as a token reward. "This kind of practice presently continues in the National Accountability Bureau to encourage the investigation officers", he said.

Currently around 5,000 cases are pending with the department at various levels of probe and officials have been asked to expedite an early disposal of cases, the chairman said.

He said it had been decided to send the ACE officials for training in law and investigation at the Sihala Academy. This would enhance the professional capacity of officers, which would in turn improve the degree of professionalism.

The DAWN