HYDERABAD, Jan 9: An acute shortage of wheat flour in Hyderabad has pushed up the retail price of a 10-kilogram bag to Rs420 from Rs370 a week back, recording an increase of Rs50.

The price of 100-kg bag of wheat is Rs3,300 compared to the last week price of Rs2,800, or before the Jan 1 announcement of the Sindh food department’s wheat quota policy.

The meeting between millers and the Sindh food minister also bore no fruit as the retail price of wheat flour did not come down. However, price of a 100-kg bag of wheat was reduced to Rs3,300 from Rs3,500.

Despite higher prices of wheat flour, there is still a shortage of the commodity and substandard flour is being sold in the open market.

Abdul Majid, a resident of Latifabad Unit No 11, said that he bought a 10-kg bag of wheat flour for Rs420, but it was not of good quality.

He said that the 10-kg bag of flour was easily available at Rs370 before Jan 1 and quality was also better.

It is learnt that in some Hyderabad localities, a 10-kg bag of flour was also being sold for between Rs410 and Rs430 by some retailers who wanted to get the maximum profit by taking advantage of the shortage.

The president of the Atta Chakki Owners Social Welfare Association, Mohammad Javed Qureshi, recommended a liberal policy under which chakki owners would lift over 100,000 bags of 100-kg wheat in a month.

He said that under the new wheat quota policy, 236 chakkis of Hyderabad district were allowed to lift a mere 27,840 bags of 100-kg for a city of over 2.5 million people.

He said that the people were facing problems as less quantity was being allocated to Hyderabad and, therefore, a shortage of wheat flour was being witnessed in the retail market.

He said that the chairman of the food department’s vigilance team and coordinator, Shahnawaz Magsi, and district food controller Masood Ahmed Siddiqui held a meeting with chakki owners on Jan 7 in Hyderabad and they assured that they would supply wheat to chakki owners and the quota would be increased.

He said that 95 per cent people of Hyderabad consumed flour from chakkis.

He said that there was a network of 236 chakkis here, while there were only seven roller mills.

Another leader of the association, Mohammad Hanif Rajput, said that if Mr Magsi and Mr Siddiqui continued to supply wheat to chakkis in Hyderabad, there would be no shortage of wheat flour.

He demanded that the government increase quota to over 100,000 bags of 100-kg wheat instead of the current 27,840 bags of 100 kilograms of wheat.

He said that it would take two to three days for ensuring proper supply in the open market.

He said that there was a supply chain which had been affected due to the shortage of wheat and then wheat flour.