MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Minister for Food Chaudhry Ali Shan Soni on Sunday dismissed “propaganda” regarding the price of wheat flour as “unfounded and incorrect”, saying the rates being circulated on social media were not final.

“Under the directives of Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, the government has decided to establish committees at ward level, comprising the winner and first and second runners-up in the recently held local government (LG) polls regardless of their party affiliations, to ensure provision of subsidised wheat flour to deserving persons at cheap prices,” he said in a press release.

The minister’s statement came amid reports that protests were held in many areas of the state earlier in the day against what the protesters alleged were soaring prices of wheat flour in the territory.

In the Gurez area of Neelum Valley, dozens of people, including children, assembled on a snow-clad field with placards in their hands to condemn “dearness” in the context of wheat flour prices.

“Flour is expensive [and] death is cheap,” read a placard.

The food minister asserted that the government would provide flour to deserving and disadvantaged people in consultation with the proposed committees, which would be made functional within a week.

“The provision of the subsidised flour will be ensured even in the remotest areas of the state which are devoid of road infrastructure,” he said.

The food minister maintained that there was a segment of society in Azad Kashmir that was blessed with resources but, nevertheless, it had always exploited the poor and the needy.

“Even now, this segment is in action and is hindering the supply of cheap flour on the part of the government to the marginalised communities,” he said, without elaborating.

Mr Soni urged the masses to “expose the conspiracy of this class that was robbing the poor of their rights and make the government’s pro-poor policy successful”.

“I urge people not to pay heed to the unnecessary messages circulating on social media. We are determined to fulfill our promise and give deserving persons their due right,” he said.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2023