MUZAFFARGARH/RAHIM YAR KHAN: Long lineups of flour buyers can be seen at designated stations selling subsidised flour in Muzaffargarh, Kot Addu, and Rahim Yar districts, indicating that the flour crisis has worsened. People in Rahim Yar Khan were having difficulty getting wheat flour after the price increased last week.

There were long lines of people at points like Abbasia Pul, Faisal Road, Shahbazpur Road, Adda Khanpur Chowk, Bypass Road, and Abu Dhabi Road, where some flour mills have also established flour sale points.According to Chaudhary Maqsood Sandhu of the Local Karyana Association, the district has more than 125 flour mills, but the flour scarcity persists.

He stated that it was a matter of supply and demand. According to him, flour mills deliver 75 bags of 10 kg to a grocery store per day, which are sold in an hour. He said that the district food controller (DFC) and the district administration neglected to distribute flour to city retailers as recommended. DFC Malik Zaman Khan, on the other hand, claims that retailers overcharged for the flour. He said that he filed FIRs against multiple retailers, causing them to create an artificial shortage. He suggested that flour mill owners raise the wheat shortage issue to the cabinet level.

A flour bag weighing 10 kilogrammes was priced between Rs490 and Rs648 in Muzaffargarh and Kot Addu districts. Flour was available in limited amounts and at exorbitant rates in grocery stores and mills.

The public protested that because of the price increase, flour sales fell short, while there was a severe shortage of subsidised flour on the market. In rural, atta chakki owners sold flour at higher prices, whilst shops in cities did not follow government rates.

The local flour mills association has suspended flour supply to sale sites where subsidised flour is distributed, stating that the Punjab government has reduced wheat quotas to Muzaffargarh and Kot Addu district flour mills.

The Muzaffargarh deputy commissioner claimed that the wheat quota to flour mills will be increased soon, saying the flour shortage was a province-wide issue. He said the district administration had deployed price magistrates to check shops and markets. The Kot Addu administration met with the flour mills’ association and convinced them to call off the strike.

Members of the public Riaz and Ameer Bukhsh, claimed that they visited the flour points on Muzaffargarh Railway Road on Saturday and Sunday and could get a bag of flour weighing 10 kilograms each. They appealed to the government to arrange subsidized flour supply to village markets because this facility was only in city areas.

In Muzaffargarh and Kot Addu districts, there are 25 flour mills functional. The Muzaffargarh district’s daily wheat quota is 1,280 bags of wheat, and Kot Addu’s 1,000 sacks, but the Punjab government reduced it to 1,100 bags for Muzaffargarh and 800 bags for Kot Addu. A food department official said that now the wheat was being supplied to Lahore from Muzaffargarh, and this time 415,000 bags of wheat were in the stock of the food department. He said flour mills administrations visit their office and demanded an increase in the quota.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2023