LAHORE: The ‘Reforms Committee’ of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) has demanded the Punjab government immediately supply wheat from its storage to the flour units lying idle in the province.

A meeting of the body presided over by its head Malik Tahir Hanif had a consensus that several mills in the province were non-operational because of departmental, administrative or other issues and the government should immediately supply grain to all these units to prevent any shortage of flour in the market.

The meeting reviewed in detail the problems being faced by flour millers across the province. The participants lauded Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s decision to fix the wheat price at Rs3,000 per 40kg, terming it a step that would help create employment opportunities for more than 100,000 jobless families.

The committee also expressed gratitude to Salma Butt, Special Adviser to the Chief Minister, the Price Control Secretary Kiran Khurshid and the food director general and cane commissioner for their special efforts in addressing the millers’ concerns.

Meanwhile, food authorities have issued show-cause notices to two known flour mills in Lahore for “creating artificial flour shortage” in the market.

The officials claim that both the units had been issued 15,000 wheat sacks each on subsidised rates from the government’s storage to ensure sufficient availability of flour in Lahore, but the two units milled only 10,000 sacks each.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2025