The flour mill owners have warned of a flour crisis engulfing the region and affecting millions due to the wrong policies of the Food Department. Flour millers have planned to stop the supply of flour to the market due to the conditions imposed by the Food Department, which will deprive the masses of affordable flour. In a statement today, the Pakistan Flour Mills Association said that all the responsibility for this crisis will be on the policies imposed by the Food Department.
Flour mills cannot function because of undue interference and restrictions of the concerned authorities, which should be noted, the statement said. The Food Department has abolished the subsidy and is now buying wheat at Rs 3,900 per 40 kg and selling it at Rs 4,700 per 40 kg.
Now, the 130 flour mills of the Rawalpindi region are being pressurised to buy twenty-five percent of the wheat from far-flung districts of Punjab, including Bhakkar, Jhang, Muzaffargarh, and Bahawalpur.
The Flour Mills Association further said that buying wheat from these districts and delivering it to flour mills in Rawalpindi and Islamabad costs up to five hundred rupees per 100 kg due to high transportation costs.
However, the Food Department insists that after buying wheat from remote areas of Punjab and transporting it to Rawalpindi Division, it must be sold at the official rate of Rs 1374 per 10 kg, which is not feasible.
Earlier, flour mills in Rawalpindi and Islamabad used to get wheat from local godowns. The policy has changed, which is unacceptable to flour millers as it is not feasible and amounts to depriving the masses of affordable staples.
The association of flour mills said that wheat was not being supplied as per their demand, and if the situation remained the same, the prices would jump in the local market, adding to the trouble of the masses.
Currently, flour mills are being supplied with very substandard wheat, which is smelly, has high moisture, and includes dirt, by the concerned department. The statement said this wheat is unfit for human consumption.
