Action urged against mills selling poor quality flour
By Sher Baz Khan
ISLAMABAD, Feb 21: The Federal Food Committee (FFC) has asked the Balochistan government to punish the mills which supplied flour ‘unfit’ for human consumption during the recent crisis. It also criticised what it called Sindh government’s slackness in testing samples of flour being sold in the market.
The committee urged the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to issue an SRO authorising the Frontier Corps to also prevent smuggling of sugar, rice, pulses and ghee to Afghanistan.
The FBR is likely to issue the SRO this week.
The government, it may be mentioned, had decided to import two million tons wheat to overcome the crisis, but the FFC said that import of 1.7 million tons, for which tenders had already been floated, should be enough because harvest of the new wheat crop was about to begin and supplies to the market had been streamlined.
Talking to reporters here on Thursday, FFC chairman Lt-Gen (retd) Farooq Ahmed Khan said the Sindh government had so far tested only 18 samples whereas 171 mills were operating in the province. On the contrary, the NWFP where the number of mills was less had tested 165 samples, he added.
Answering a question, he said the Balochistan government must not yield to pressure and take those mills to court which sold flour which tests showed were ‘unfit’ for human consumption.
Mill-owners have reportedly asked the Balochistan government to collect fresh samples from the market and forget about the flour sold during the crisis.
Laboratory tests have confirmed that at least 10 mills in Balochistan had sold spoilt flour.
Sources said the Balochistan government was reluctant to take action against the mills even after the FFC’s directives to do so, while Sindh ignored most of FFC’s directives regarding quality of foodstuff.
“Old samples (tested in laboratories) bear testimony that they were unfit for human consumption,” the FFC chairman said.
The committee has also asked the governments of Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan to follow the NWFP which has banned extraction of fine flour, maida and suji from the wheat supplied to mills at subsidised rates.
