CHITRAL: Civil society representatives from Upper and Lower Chitral districts have demanded of Chief Minister Sohail Afridi to direct the food department to sell the 200,000 bags of wheat stocked in its godowns in the region for the past two years to the public at a low price to prevent the grain from being wasted.

Addressing a news conference at the Chitral Press Club on Saturday, Farooq Ahmed, a social activist from Ayun and former councillors Abdul Majeed Qureshi, Fakhruddin and Mohamamd Sabir, said due to the availability of cheap flour in the market and the high price of wheat in government warehouses wheat stock in more than 18 godowns in Upper and Lower Chitral was spoiling.

He said reports of termites eating away at the wheat stored in warehouses in Drosh and other places were also emerging.

Mr Ahmed said due to the government’s apathy, not only wheat but also empty sacks worth millions of rupees were being spoiled and rendered unusable.

Claim termite eating away at grain in godowns

He said the government had not learned any lessons from the past when a large quantity of spoiled wheat had to be dumped in the river a few years ago.

He said winter was approaching and if wheat was not supplied to people at affordable prices, severe food shortage would hit the region after the snowfall.

He also appealed to the Peshawar High Court chief justice to look into the matter.

In a separate development, traders in Oghi area of Mansehra district on Saturday urged the federal government to take notice of the ‘ban’ imposed by the Punjab government on the transportation of wheat and flour to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“The prices of wheat flour have surged to a record high in our tehsil as the transportation of wheat and its flour to our province has been unjustly restricted by the Punjab government,” Mian Saifur Rehman, a trader’s leader in Oghi, told reporters.

He said price of a 20kg flour bag had increased to Rs3,000 in local market from Rs1,700 following the ban.

“Most flour mills in Hazara division have suspended their operations due to non-availability of wheat grains, and the people are bearing the brunt of it,” Mr Rehman added.

He said hoarders had become active to exploit the situation and fleece consumers.

“The government should also take strict action against the hoarding of essential commodities such as wheat flour and sugar to bring their prices down,” he demanded.

Meanwhile, the rapid increase in wheat flour price over the last three days has worried consumers, especially the daily wagers, in Swabi district.

Mir Salam Khan, a trader, told Dawn that price of 20kg flour bag had shot up to Rs3,000 from Rs2,300 two weeks ago.

Consumers recalled that a month ago the same bag of flour was selling at just Rs1,500.

Gul Wali Khan of Maneri Bala village said: “One thing is for sure that price of flour will increase further.”

Consumers said they were highly perturbed over the government’s failure to keep the prices under check.

When contacted, officials of the district administration told Dawn that ‘ban’ on transportation of wheat from Punjab had caused the prices to go up. He said the devastating floods had washed away many wheat godowns in Punjab.

Like flour, price of wheat has also increased significantly with a 50kg bag selling at over Rs6,000.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2025