September 23, 2008	Tuesday	Ramazan 22, 1429

SUKKUR, Sept 22: Majority of flour mills and chakkis across the province ground to a halt on Monday in response to a call for strike given by the Sindh chapter of the All-Pakistan Flour Mills Association against what the association described as ‘atrocities by the private members of vigilance committee of the Food Department’.

Wheat flour crisis in Upper Sindh is likely to deepen with the closure of 142 flourmills with present flour stock likely to exhaust within next four to five days in the wake of heavy buying for Eidul Fitr.

A survey of markets carried out in Sukkur, Rohri, Khairpur, Ghotki, Mirpur Mathelo and adjoining towns revealed that wheat flour supplies from wholesalers to retailers had almost stopped, which had resulted in increased blackmarketing of the commodity.

Muneer Memon and a number of other office-bearers of the Sindh chapter of All-Pakistan Flourmills Association had alleged at a recently held press conference that members of ‘Magsi force’, a reference to the fellow tribesmen of Sindh Food Minister Mir Nadir Magsi, formed part of vigilance committees of the food department in Sindh.

The ‘Magsi force’ was demanding Rs30 for each bag of wheat supplied to flourmills by the department, a practice which amounted to extortion from mill owners, they alleged.

They said that they wanted to bring it to the knowledge of the president, prime minister and chief minister that this would run counter to the government’s commitment for promotion of trade and business and creating conducive climate for investment.

Iqbal Dawood Pakwala, chairman of the association’s Sindh chapter who is also a diehard PPP worker, said that he would inform the leadership of provincial and federal governments about negative repercussions of the policy pursued by the food minister.

The responsibility for tactics of ‘Magsi force’ would have to be borne by the food minister, he added.

He said that the association had planned to continue strike for an indefinite period if the Magsi force was not withdrawn from the vigilance committees.

In Khairpur and Gambat, three flour mills remained closed as labourers and other staff members observed strike. In Dadu, Mehar, Khairpur Nathan Shah, Johi, Sehwan, Bhan Syedabad, Kotri and Thana Bula Khan, flour mills and chakkis kept their businesses closed, much to the inconvenience of consumers.

In Sanghar, owners of flour mills responded to the association’s strike call and all the six mills of the district remained closed while hundred of daily wagers suffered.

The flour mill and chakki owners said that the strike would continue till the acceptance of demands. People blamed that the flour mills never ground wheat, they were run on paper to exploit subsidised quota of wheat.

In Shikarpur, the call for strike largely fell on deaf ears as almost all the flour mills continued functioning as usual.