RAWALPINDI: The wheat flour (Atta) is the most sought after item in the Ramazan Bazaar of the district as 247,126 bags were sold out in 17 days.

However, district food controller failed to check prices of wheat flour in the open market.

A senior district administration official told Dawn that the provincial government had provided 350,000 bags of 10kg at Ramazan Bazaars of the district. He said the 10-kg bag was available at Rs290 per bag.

The district administration kept monitoring the wheat flour and sent its samples to laboratory for quality check, the official said, adding results of the samples would arrive after Ramazan.

He said there would be no compromise on the quality of flour and strict action would be taken against the flour mills if its quality was found poor.

He said flour mills had been asked to ensure wheat flour supply throughout Ramazan. They assured full cooperation in this regard.

On the other hand, the wheat flour price has increased in the open market and the food department has failed to control the price. In the open market, 20-kg bag is available at Rs1,000 as against Rs850 it was available before Ramazan.

Ashar Ali, a resident of Chaklala Scheme-III, said he was getting wheat flour at Rs885 per 20-kg before Ramazan and after the arrival of the holy month, the shopkeeper had increased the rate to Rs1,000 per 20-kg bag. He said 20-kg Chaki Atta was available at Rs1,000 before Ramazan and now it is being sold at Rs1,200.

He said the government was giving subsidy on wheat flour in Ramazan Bazaar but the quality of the wheat was not good. He said it was difficult to make a roti from the wheat flour and binding quality of the flour is not as per standard.

Mohammad Akhter, a resident of Ayra Mohallah, said the government had failed to check wheat flour prices in the open market as magistrates only visited Ramazan Bazaar.

He said mostly people did not go to Ramazan Bazaar for daily shopping as it was wastage of time. He said he did not want to queue up in the line to get sugar and wheat flour on subsidised rates.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2019