PESHAWAR, Oct 19: Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi's promise of providing 100,000 tons of wheat to flour mills in the NWFP remains unfulfilled even one month after the announcement was made.

Official and market sources said that the NWFP flour millers have been provided access to wheat in open market in Punjab following the lifting of ban on the transportation of wheat to other parts of the country but they were yet to be provided from the Punjab government's granaries.

Sources said that similar promises and announcements made earlier by Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, when he was the prime minister, and Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, also remained unfulfilled.

Flour mills, market sources said, were keen to get wheat from Punjab because of the price factor.

"Obviously, they are interested because of the difference of price," said a spokesman for the NWFP chapter of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association.

The price of wheat in the open market in Punjab was comparatively higher than the rate at which it would be provided from the provincial government's warehouses, the spokesman said.

A commitment for supplying 100,000 tons of wheat to the NWFP was first made by Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao in July when he was heading the inter-provincial coordination committee besides being the minister for water and power.

Later, the then prime minister, Chaudhary Shujat Hussain, also made a public announcement, in July, to help revive NWFP's flour mills which had been shut down because of wheat shortage.

Representatives of PFMA and officials of the Punjab food department, Punjab, had remained in touch for quite some time and developed an understanding that the announced quantity of wheat should be supplied in four phases.

Previously, it had been agreed that the Punjab government would issue permits to the NWFP flour mills for lifting a specific quantity of wheat from the official disbursement centres.

Punjab government had even identified disbursement centres where millers were to lift the assigned quantity of wheat.

"However, the promises did not materialize and no official work was done by the Punjab food department's authorities," said an official of the NWFP food directorate.

A flour mill owner said that the PFMA had sent several reminders to Punjab food department reminding it of the promise made by the chief minister of Punjab.

"No progress has so far been made ... Flour mill owners are yet to be issued permits by the Punjab food department," said a miller, adding that "No reply has so far been received against the reminders sent to them."