HYDERABAD, March 7: The City Taluka Council members at its Saturday's session urged the president and the prime minister to take notice of the flour crisis. They further demanded action against those responsible for creating an artificial shortage of flour in Sindh.

The council expressed concern over increase in prices of different commodities like meat, milk and flour, terming it a conspiracy hatched by officials of the price control committee and the food department.

The session witnessed a detailed discussion on the issue of inflation and flour crisis after Usman Abbasi rose on a point of order and said the people were facing hardships due to the situation.

He regretted that prices of commodities had been increased by retailers and whole salers but officials appeared least concerned about the plight of the people. He said no action had been taken to rectify the situation. Yaqoob Bhatti and Saeed Salawat criticized officials for maintaining a silence over the matter.

Iqbal Kaimkhani attributed the flour crisis and inflation to government's wrong policies and hoarding. He said government functionaries should take action against hoarders. Ghaffar Shah, Anwar Chundrigar and Rubina Abbasi said it was up to the government to control prices of commodities. They said the lower and middle class people could not afford to buy flour.