SUKKUR, Jan 27: The Pakistan Flour Mills Association, Sindh chapter, has warned the government that mills of the Sukkur region will be closed down if they are not provided with their wheat quota.

The association at a meeting held here on Tuesday said the government would be responsible for the flour shortage in the region. The chairman of the association, Muneer Ahmad Memon, presided over the meeting.

The meeting pointed out that nine of 18 flour mills in the Sukkur district had already been closed for want of wheat quota. Blaming the situation on the deputy food director of Sukkur, the meeting maintained that the negligence of the officer had led to the wheat shortage in the district.

Speaking at the meeting, Mr Memon said the food department had promised the supply of nine thousand bags per month but the flour mills were provided with three thousand bags.

He said the non-supply of wheat to mills as per their quota would cause a flour crisis. He said the price of flour had also shot up and warned that if the food department did not take notice of the matter, all the 36 mills of the Sukkur region would be closed down.

The meeting disclosed that flour mills owners of the region had deposited Rs250 to Rs300 million as an advance challan with the food department but it was not providing wheat to the mills.

It observed that the mill owners extended full cooperation to the food department and sold flour at the rate of Rs10 per kilogramme as fixed by the government but it would be difficult to sell flour at that price in the wake of the wheat shortage.

Mr Memon said if the Sindh government did not take a serious notice of the matter, the region might even face flour shortage on Eid day. The vice-chairman of the association, Aijaz Ahmad Baloch, also criticized the food department for the shortage of wheat.

Later, members of the association, led by its chairman Memon, called on District Naib Nazim Iqbal Dawood Pakwala and apprised him of the shortage of wheat in Sukkur.

The Naib Nazim agreed with the association members that the district government had failed to fulfil its promise of regular supply of wheat to the mills.

He asked the owners not to close their mills and said wheat to the mills would be provided as per quota shortly. Meanwhile, Sukkur deputy food director Ramesh Lal told journalists that allegations levelled against him by the mill owners were baseless.

He said the Sindh food department was in touch with the Punjab government and 80,000 wheat bags would be procured from Bahawal Nagar and Rahim Yar Khan for Sukkur in two days.