12 February 2004	Thursday	20 Zilhaj 1424

SAHIWAL, Feb 11: Flour prices are going up in Sahiwal and Chichawatni because the millers are not proving the required quantity of the commodity. According to sources, six flour mills in Sahiwal are providing 14,120 flour bags of 20kg each daily against the supply quota of 3,530 bags of 100kg each of wheat by the food department.

The millers were selling all the flour to traders of other districts instead of supply it to sales points in Sahiwal and Chichawatni. As a result, the price of 20kg bag has increased from Rs203 to Rs220. This has also created flour shortage in Sahiwal and Chichawatni.

Sources said that 100,000 bags of 100 kg each would be supplied from Sahiwal to Sindh while 400,000 and 300,000 bags of 100 kg each to Islamabad and Lahore, respectively, on the order of the provincial government.

As many as 67,000 bags have so far been supplied to Sindh and the remaining quantity would be sent by March 31. For local consumption, the food department has earmarked a stock of 250,000 bags of 100 kg each.