QUETTA, Oct 7: Suspension of flour supply from Punjab in Ramazan and its continued smuggling to Afghanistan has resulted in soaring prices of the commodity in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan.

The people are facing a shortage of flour as dealers appointed by the food department are not supplying as much as needed.

The price of a 20kg flour bag has gone up to Rs700 in the market. “Flour is not available on government rate of Rs477 per 20kg bag,” said a dealer.

“The Balochistan government had requested Punjab to supply 250,000 tons of wheat, but now the Punjab government had backed out of its earlier commitment,” well-placed sources in the provincial food department told Dawn, adding that now Balochistan would get only 30,000 tons of wheat from Punjab.

The sources said that the provincial food department had obtained a loan of Rs1539 million from the National Bank to make payment to the Punjab government for 250,000 tons of wheat. “We are paying 13 per cent mark-up to the bank on this loan,” the sources said.