PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has been taking concrete steps like provision of subsidy on flour to give maximum relief to the people and reduce impact of inflation on the common man.

This was stated in a meeting of food department held with Chief Minister Mahmood Khan in the chair. The meeting reviewed the overall performance of the department with special focus on the matters related to wheat flour subsidy and a strategy to meet the wheat requirements of the province.

According to a statement issued here on Friday, the participants were informed that the provincial government had allocated Rs15 billion in the current financial year’s budget for subsidising flour whereas Rs10 billion had been spent on wheat subsidy during last fiscal year.

CM chairs meeting on performance of food department

The forum also discussed other reform initiatives, including the process of digitalisation, in order to ensure transparency in affairs of the department.

Provincial Minister for Food Atif Khan, Special Assistant to CM on Information Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, Secretary Food Mushtaq Ahmad, Secretary Information Technology Matiullah Khan and other concerned officials attended the meeting.

About the wheat requirements, the forum was informed that 4.5 million metric tonnes wheat was the annual requirement of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of which 25 per cent wheat was produced in the province and the rest of 75 per cent was being bought from the government of Punjab and Passco.

It was stated that the overall mechanism related to purchase of wheat, its storage and supply to flour mills was being digitised to streamline all the matters related to provision of flour to the people on subsidised rates.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister said that giving maximum relief to the people was one of the priority areas of his government for which relief initiatives were under way.

He said the provincial government was considering giving significant relief to deserving households on basic food items in the upcoming budget.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2022