May 06, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 29, 1429

PESHAWAR, May 5: The Pakistan Flour Mills Association, NWFP, has urged the government to left the ban on inter-provincial movement of flour to ensure easy availability of the community to people at appropriate prices.

Speaking at a press conference at the press club here on Monday, association’s NWFP chapter chairman Mohammad Sadiq called upon the government to resolve the flour issue on priority basis.

He said the flour crisis had deepened because besides the inter-provincial ban, inter-district transportation of wheat had been banned by the NWFP government.

He termed it disastrous for the flour mill industry, saying that on the one hand the NWFP government was providing wheat in lesser quantity to mills and on the other, mill owners of the province could not buy wheat from the open market in Punjab.

He said the Frontier province was facing a daily shortage of 20 tons. He said the province’s requirement was 30 tons of wheat but its production capacity was 10 tons. He said the lesser provision of wheat by the NWFP food department and the ban on wheat transportation by Punjab had resulted in closure of 150 flour mills in the Frontier province.