ISLAMABAD, Feb 29: The federal food committee (FFC) has suspended supply of subsidised wheat to four mills in the twin cities and reduced by a quarter the quota of 25 others for not grinding their own stocks and wholly relying on the government supplies.

Under the rules, mills must grind 30 per cent of their own wheat, while 70 percent is provided to them from government godowns.

But the food department Rawalpindi said these mills were found wholly relying on the wheat supplied to them by the government at subsidised rates.

“We found enough private wheat stocks in the possession of these mills and decided to reduce by 25 per cent the supply of the commodity to 13 mills in Rawalpindi and 12 in Islamabad,” deputy director food Rawalpindi Rashid Razi told Dawn on Friday.

He said the wheat quotas to these mills had been reduced initially for three days, so that they started grinding from their own stocks. Quota to other mills could also be reduced if they did not start grinding their private stocks.

“Now the food department has reduced the daily wheat supply to mills in Rawalpindi and Islamabad from 48,000 bags of 100kg each to 37,000 bags,” he added.

Sources said the government had suspended wheat supply to four mills in the twin cities after finding them non-operational. These mills took 1,878 tons of wheat from the government on a daily basis and instead of grinding it stored the commodity in their godowns or sold it in the market at higher rates.

The four mills were: Islamabad-based Chaudhry Flour Mills owned by Chaudhry Gul Bahar and Saeed Flour Mills of Shaikh Saeed, and Al-Wahab Flour Mills owned by Chaudhry Nisar Ali and Faisal Flour Mills of Sahibzada Abdul Quddos, Rawalpindi.

The food department has also found a number of mills involved in smuggling of flour to the NWFP. Some 40 trucks carrying wheat and flour to the NWFP were confiscated by the provincial government at Hassanabdal, the deputy food director said.

QUALITY: In response to a question, the official said the district food department had conducted test on wheat samples collected from 50 mills in the twin cities and found that of 38 mills containing excess moisture that caused early fungus in the flour and also reduced its shelf life.