LAHORE, Oct 24: The Punjab executive committee of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)on Wednesday demanded the establishment of a judicial commission to inquire into the wheat flour “scandal” accusing the ruling party of creating a crisis to benefit some of its members.

Speaking at a news conference after a meeting of the executive committee, Punjab PPP president Shah Mahmood Qureshi alleged that certain highly placed members of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) were responsible for the crisis as they had hoarded a huge quantity of wheat.

He said the wheat shortage was the “parting kick” of Punjab chief minister Chuadhry Pervaiz Elahi who would be leaving a difficult food situation for the caretakers to focus more on wheat flour supply rather than ensuring a transparent election.

He said the shortage of the essential commodity followed the government’s claims of a bumper wheat crop and the decision to export 100,000 tons of wheat. The ensuing situation made the government to import 100,000 tons of the commodity which would also involve a subsidy of Rs20 billion at the cost of the public exchequer.

He said if subsidy was not given, wheat flour would be sold at Rs29 to 30 per kg in the winter.

Also a member of the Farmers Associates Pakistan, Mr Qureshi said that the province needed about 8.75 million tons of wheat by March but the government had in reserve less than five million tons.

The party has also established a fund for the financial help of the families who lost their bread winners in the attack in Karachi on Oct 18. The PPP asked the public and workers to generously donate to the fund. The party initially collected donations worth Rs955,000 which came from the members of the executive committee.