LAHORE, March 8: The Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) has announced closure of 90, out of a total 140, flour mills in Sindh against the "provincial government's decision of stopping millers from procuring fresh harvest."

Officials of the PFMA claimed on Sunday that the current call was limited to interior parts of the province. The rest of the 50 mills in urban centres would follow suit in a day or two if no breakthrough was achieved in dialogue with the provincial authorities.

According to the PFMA, the indefinite strike by the millers was prompted by the Sindh food department's decision to procure wheat ahead of the mills. With the arrival of new crop, the food department has started purchasing wheat to meet its procurement target for the year, ignoring present needs of the province and the country.

"If the millers cannot purchase wheat now and meet the current crisis, they better close their business," says an official of the PFMA. The procurement by the Sindh food department would only deepen the current crisis, he said and added: "The department would first meet its procurement target of 800,000 tons, wait for other provinces to complete their procurement and then start releasing it after almost five to six months. But, flour is required now rather than five or six months down the line."

Flour in Sindh is selling at a price of Rs15 per kg. In these circumstances, it hardly makes sense to procure wheat for the future and let people suffer now. He insisted that corruption was taking better of the food department and it was busy worsening the crisis.