June 29, 2008	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 24, 1429

SUKKUR, June 28: The Sindh chapter of the Pakistan Flourmills Association on Saturday appealed to Sindh government to withdraw ban on inter-provincial movement of wheat and raise quota of wheat for flourmills to help provide cheap flour to people.

The chairman of Sindh chapter of the association, Iqbal Dawood Pakwala, said that flourmills owners in Sukkur had been asked not to buy more than 300 bags of wheat per day from the open market, while their requirement stood at 800 to 1,000 bags per day.

He believed the restriction would obviously result in price hike of flour. One per cent increase in GST and levy of 10 per cent withholding tax on electricity bills, would also add to inflation and raise prices of all daily-use commodities. Increase in fuel prices would break the back of common man, he said.

Meanwhile, Sukkur District Food Controller Mohammad Bachal Abro has under Sindh Food Grain Licensing (control) Order 1957, suspended all the food grain licenses other than flourmills and chakkis throughout the district for a period of 45 days up to Aug 22.

An official handout said that all the wheat dealers whether they possessed food grain licenses or not, had been asked to declare their wheat stocks, otherwise their stocks if they were found during checking, would be confiscated and action would also be taken against defaulters under the law.

People believed that a tsunami of inflation was in store for them, which would waylay them during July as the government had failed to control prices of daily-use commodities, oil, ghee, electricity, gas, wheat flour and rice etc.