HYDERABAD, Oct 13: Sindh Minister for Fisheries Zahid Ali Bhurgari said that there was no shortage of flour in the market but black-marketers were hatching conspiracy against the PPP government by creating an artificial shortage of flour.

He was speaking at a meeting of the district price control committee here on Monday.

The minister said that the anti-democratic forces were on the move against the government to serve their nefarious designs.

He said that the government was spending billions of rupees to provide subsidies to ensure supply of food items to the people at lower rates but unfortunately the benefits of such huge amount were not being trickled down to the common people due to the conspiracies of the market mafia.

Mr Bhurgari said that the PPP government had now realized that the local administration was not competent enough to defeat such anti-social and anti-democratic elements as such Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had constituted district price control committees, comprising MNAs, MPAs and opinion leaders of a district, to control the situation.

He said that the meeting of the committee was aimed at awakening the officers, local administration, officers having special judicial powers and to warn them to be more vigilant, detect market mafia involved in hoarding, black-marketing through artificial shortage of different items and to take legal action against them to provide relief to the people.

He said that next meeting of the committee would be held on Oct 30 in which he would see what actions had been taken against profiteers and hoarders by the judicial magistrates.

The minister directed the DCO Hyderabad to provide price list of kitchen items to every shopkeeper with the direction to affix the same in front of their shops.

He said that the committee came to the conclusion that sub-committees at grassroots level in each union council should be appointed with the participation of the UC nazims and all stakeholders to control prices in their respective areas.

He directed the DCO Hyderabad to increase the number of flour stalls to 80 and to ensure that each UC of the district should have stalls for the supply of wheat flour at the government rates.

He said that recently the food department had raised wheat quota to grinding units of the district from 50,000 to more than 82,000 bags in 15 days and from the verification of the record, it was revealed that the supplied quota was more than their grinding capacity.

Sindh Minister for Rural Development Zubair Ahmed, who is also a member of the committee, directed the relevant officials that in addition to increasing flour stalls, chakki owners should be encouraged to make flour available at mohallas and streets of each UC.

PPP local leaders Qazi Pasha and Sagheer Qureshi were of the view that black-marketers were more organised than the administration concerned as such the people were not getting benefits from the huge amount being spent by the government on account of subsidies.

They said that the market mafia was so organised that it was creating artificial shortage of items like flour and fertiliser and even creating unrest among the masses by spreading rumours.