BAJAUR: Expressing grave concerns over the closure of almost all flour mills in the district due to the ban on wheat supply from the Punjab, the Bajaur Flour Mills Association on Thursday asked the provincial government to provide wheat to the mills from the provincial godowns.

Addressing a news conference at the Bajaur Press Club in Khar, the president of the Bajaur Flour Mills Association, Shah Wahid, said that the ban on wheat supplies from the Punjab had forced the closure of all local flour mills in the district, as the mills were heavily dependent on wheat supplied from the Punjab.

Accompanied by other office-bearers of the association, Mr Wahid observed that the ban on wheat supplies and absence of alternative resources in the province had not only forced the closure of all eight flour mills but had also rendered hundreds of workers jobless over the past couple of years.

The continued unavailability of wheat has also forced many owners to consider shutting their facilities permanently,” he claimed.

However, he mentioned that releasing 27,0000 ( 2.7 million ) tons of wheat lying in the provincial government’s godowns for the past three years would be the most effective way to make the local flour mills operational again.

VACCINATION DRIVE: Anti-polio campaign was successfully conducted in Bajaur despite a deadly attack on a vaccination team on the second day of the drive, which left two people including a police constable and a local resident dead.

Senior officials of the local health department told a meeting, which was presided over by deputy commissioner Shahid Ali Khan and attended by officials of the district administration, police, and representatives of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other organisations supporting the campaign.

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2025