ISLAMABD, Oct 12: The food ministry has urged the prime minister to ask the government of Punjab to immediately end its ban on inter-provincial movement of flour. If the ban is not removed, it says, the price of a 20kg bag of flour may rise to Rs850 in other parts of the country.

The ECC has also been informed that the ban, imposed since the beginning of Ramazan, has encouraged hoarding and helped little to stop the smuggling of flour to Afghanistan, wheat to Iran and fine flour to Dubai.

“We have asked the prime minister to intervene and stop Punjab from playing politics with a staple food item. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet, which is headed by the prime minister, is the best forum to take such decisions,” an official of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock said on Sunday.

“The ban has adversely affected the wheat and flour supply chain,” he said, adding that the food ministry had time and again urged the provincial government not to disturb the chain.

According to reports received by the ministry, there is a shortage of flour in tribal areas and several parts of the NWFP where it is being sold at about Rs900 per 20kg. Its price is constantly on the rise in Sindh, particularly in Karachi where it is selling between Rs720 and Rs750 per 20kg. In Punjab, however, it is available at Rs420.

In Bhakkar and Taunsa in Punjab, a 100kg flour bag is selling for Rs2,600, while people in the nearby Dera Ismail Khan district in the NWFP have to pay Rs3,200 to Rs3,300. In tribal areas, consumers are paying more than Rs3,500 for the same quantity.

Punjab is releasing wheat to its mills at Rs700 per 40kg. However, mills in Sindh and the NWFP are paying Rs750. The situation in Balochistan is worse; mills are buying wheat at Rs827 for 40kg from the government.