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RAWALPINDI The sale of wheat flour at the special subsidised rate of Rs200 per 20kg for the month of Ramazan commenced here on Tuesday, with long queues seen at the sale points.
The food department will arrange the sale of 4.4 million bags of wheat flour at Ramazan bazaars and trucking points as prescribed by the district administration, a deputy director of the local food department told Dawn.
Rawalpindi district will get 2,620,000 bags of wheat flour, while Attock will receive 667,000 bags; Jhelum 495,000 bags and Chakwal 614,000 bags. These bags will have a special colour signifying their identity.
On a daily basis, 70,800 bags will be distributed in Rawalpindi district, 18,000 bags in Attock, 16,600 in Chakwal and 13,400 in Jhelum.
This year, no fair price shop will be operated by the district administration. Under the Ramazan package announced by the Punjab government, bazaars will be conducted in various parts of the city, towns and villages.
The provincial government has also decided to introduce Ramazan Dastarkhwan with the courtesy of philanthropists and well-to-do people. Priority will be given to katchi abadis and areas of low income people in setting up of the facility.
In Rawalpindi cantonment, the sale of wheat flour started in the afternoon at two trucking points at Peshawar Road where long queues of consumers including women were seen.
According to the food department official, the sale of the commodity during the first and last ten days of the holy month will be at the peak.
Owner of a wheat flour mill in Islamabad, when contacted, spoke of high quality of wheat flour from locally-produced grains. He said the government would sell 40kg of wheat to flour mills at Rs300 specifically for the month of Ramazan.
In the meantime, brisk shopping was getting momentum with the passage of each day before the start of the holy month. Usually, mid of the month is seen stable from the point of view of monthly wholesale shopping by retailers from city, towns and villages.
But shopping at this stage by consumers particularly buying of food items is a reflection of pre-Ramazan buying spree.
Ramazan bazaars
As many as 42 Ramazan Bazaars to provide daily-use items to the consumers started functioning on Tuesday in Rawalpindi division, said Commissioner Zahid Saeed.
Presiding over a meeting held to review the arrangements for Ramazan, he said 17 bazaars had been established in Rawalpindi, 10 in Attock, seven in Jhelum and eight in Chakwal to provide various daily-use items at subsidised rates.
The commissioner said a complaint cell had been established in the office of district officer (Revenue) and any citizen could lodge his complaint about the problem at these bazaars.
