CHITRAL, Sept 30: Former district nazim Maghfirat Shah has demanded of the government to timely transport their quota of wheat to the local grain warehouses before advent of winter season.

Talking to media persons here the other day, he said that the food department had established grain warehouses on union council level to facilitate people. He said that intense cold wave gripped the valleys of Terich, Khot, Rech, Melp, Yarkhun, Laspur and Oveer for three months and froze water channels. As a result, water mills are shut and there is no grinding of wheat during this time, he said.

Mr Shah said that there was no other source of grinding wheat except for water mills in all these valleys and if wheat transportation was delayed then people would face difficulties in grinding it, resulting in wheat flour shortage.

He said that usually the district government would ensure transportation of annual wheat quota to far away grain warehouses, but of late people had been facing wheat shortage due to delay in transportation.

The former nazim said that the old stock of grain in remote areas had either exhausted or the commodity was not fit for human

consumption and people were not ready to buy it. He said that people of remote areas were mostly poor and unemployed and they hardly had a cash to buy a 100-kg bag of wheat. — Correspondent