LAHORE: In a bid to control the rising prices of wheat and flour, Punjab Food Secretary Muhammad Zaman Wattoo has ordered a crackdown on grain hoarders in the province and decided to himself join the department’s raiding teams.

In a circular sent to all district food controllers, the secretary has directed the officials to seize all the hoarded wheat and get cases registered against the owners of the illegal storage houses under the Punjab Prevention of Speculation of Essential Commodities Act 2021.

The department will pay Rs3,900 per maund, the minimum support price announced for the farmers this season, for the confiscated wheat, which will be used to make flour to be sold at Rs115.8 per kg, Mr Wattoo says.

He adds that 10-kg bags of this flour will be provided to the deserving families.

The step worries the Pakistan Flour Mills Association, which has urged caution on the part of food department and sought an assurance that the move won’t disturb the wheat supply to mills.

The department believes that some profiteers and hoarders among the flour millers are involved in stocking the wheat purchased at Rs3,900 per maund and inflating the prices by creating an artificial shortage of the commodity in the market. It alleges that the flour mills that have stored their wheat with stockists are opposing the action against hoarding.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2023