Third Secy Food shown the door amid atta crisis

LAHORE - The Punjab government during the last five months has shown exit to three secretaries of the provincial Food Department, besides other senior officers, but the flour crisis is deteriorating with every passing day, while giving sleepless nights to the provincial administration with the onset of Ramazan.

The fourth Secretary Food Department Squadron Leader (r) Muhammad Irfan Elahi will be assuming his duties from Wednesday (today), who is second former air force man to do the honours, while the first Squadron Leader (R) Ahmed Yar Khan, was given the unceremonious exit on March 20 after about a month since the present govt was declared successful in February 18 general elections.

However, these frequent changes have given rise to certain questions about the successful running of the provincial administration. "The crisis is of a multidimensional nature, while the bureaucracy is a champion for maintaining the status quo only. The question is: How far these repeated administrative changes will bear fruit considering the fact that our macho men seemed to be visionless," said an officer seeking anonymity while maintaining that the flour crisis had been more or less due to ineffective policies of the previous government.

This also questions the performance of the concerned officers, who are being posted against important slots. "Certainly, this shows that our bureaucracy has lost vigour and capacity for handling the crises. Whither self-proclaimed administrators, who raise embroidered slogans about running govts?" questioned a senior officer