F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday has taken notice of the inflating prices of flour across the country as the price of one kg flour has surged to Rs70.
According to details, the flour’s prices has surged by Rs6 per kg and a bag of 1kg flour will be sold at Rs70. This has been witnessed for the second time in the past couple of weeks. The prices has been hiked by Rs2o in PTI’s government period.
Naanbai Association has also announced a hike owing to the increasing prices of the flour.
PM Imran took notice of the matter and designated Jahangir Tareen and Minister for National Food Security and Research Khusro Bakhtiar to look for an immediate resolution over the inflation-related crisis.
Both politicians have been directed to seek solution to ensure the decrease in the prices of flour.
The premier has tasked Tareen and Bakhtiyar to seek counsel from the Chief Minister of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and come up with worthwhile results to the issue.
The federal government is mulling releasing 1 lac ton of wheat from the quota of Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO).
Similarly, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar also took strict notice the unnecessary increase in flour price in some districts of the province and directed to take immediate administrative measures for stabilizing the flour prices
Chairing a meeting at Chief Minister‘s Office held to review the demand and supply and prices of flour in the province.
He directed to immediately remove the Food Department officers involved in irregularities and negligence from duties.
Usman Buzdar said that he would not tolerate the unnecessary increase in flour price at any cost. On the strict instructions of Chief Minister, Punjab Food Department has initiated crackdown and took action against 376 flour mills and imposed an overall fine of above Rs 90 million besides suspending the license of 15 flour mills.
Action has also been initiated against the food department officers for showing negligence in their duties and four such officers have been removed from their posts.
District Food Controller Gujranwala Rohail Butt, District Food Controller Sialkot Nasrullah Khan Nadeem have been suspended while Deputy Director Food Department Faisalabad Kamran Bashir and District Food Controller Vehari Sagheer Ahmed have been removed from their posts.
On the instructions of Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, 126 sale points have been set up in different districts of the province for ensuring the smooth supply of flour. Flour was being supplied on the ex-mill rate at 21 sale points in Lahore division through trucks. Similarly, 55 sale points have been set up in Rawalpindi division where flour was being provided at control rate.
Moreover, flour was being provided at nine sale points in Gujranwala division at control rate through trucks, at 17 sale points in Bahawalpur division and at 24 sale points in district Sialkot where flour was being provided at control rate.
Earlier, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Friday has tabled a resolution against increasing inflation in Punjab Assembly.
According to details, the opposition party has told the House that the cost of pulses, vegetables, chicken meat and flour has been increased as the government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has failed to implement the official prices.
It is to be mentioned here that the hike in the price of flour has badly irked the locals in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta and other parts of the country.
Usman Buzdar said that availability of flour to the people at fixed rates will be ensured. He directed to set up a monitoring cell in the Food Department for the strict monitoring of supply and demand of wheat and flour.
The chief minister said that those mills would be sealed which involved in selling flour from government wheat in the open market. He directed officers of the food department and district administration to ensure the availability of flour at a fixed price.
He directed the food minister to ensure the availability of flour in the market by going into the filed. He said that the government would not let flour price increase in Punjab.
