RAWALPINDI, Oct 13: The district government plans to create watchdog bodies for the 232 Tandoors commissioned in the district to sell Roti at the subsidised rate of Rs2.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Imdadullah Bosal disclosed this while briefing journalists on the supply situation of wheat flour and the subsidised Roti here on Monday.

Members of the Punjab Assembly, labour unions and non-government organisations (NGOs) would be nominated on the proposed Tandoor committees, he said.

Government has designated 112 Tandoors in Rawalpindi city, 76 in Taxila, 27 in Gujar Khan, 17 in Kahuta and one in Murree which receive flour at subsidised rate to supply Roti at subsidised rate to the people.

Under the scheme, the Punjab government has been giving a subsidy of Rs175 on a 20kg bag of flour. The proposed watchdog committees would see that the designated Tandoors use their daily quota of 10 bags of flour for the benefit of the people and not for profit by selling it in the market where the price of flour is higher.

DCO Bosal said the number of Tandoors selling Roti for Rs2 would be increased.

About the supply of flour, he said the sale points of flour at government-fixed rate had been increased from 25 to 37. Trucks, each loaded with 300 bags of flour, would sell the commodity at Rs420 per 20kg throughout the week, except on Sunday when the flour is available in weekly bazaars.

The official estimated that the district needed 40,000 bags of 20kg every day while 52,680 bags are kept in reserve. Efforts were being made to enhance the supply of flour through dealers in the open market, he said.

Questioned about the quality of the flour available in the market, the official said samples taken from different parts of the city had been sent to the laboratory.

About the Food Stamp Scheme of the federal government, he said 7,579 deserving people had been identified against the 5,000 people the scheme proposed to benefit in each provincial constituency.

On the security and sanitation concerns of the citizens of the garrison city of Rawalpindi, the newly appointed DCO informed the media that data had been collected to formulate a disaster management plan and that the problem of solid waste was proposed to be tackled through public-private partnership.