ISLAMABAD, Dec 25: Many areas of Islamabad and Rawalpindi are experiencing shortage of wheat flour and profiteers have seized it as an opportunity to increase prices of flour and bread.
When contacted, Islamabad Chief Commissioner Hamid Ali Khan told Dawn on Tuesday that the shortage was caused because Eid holidays disrupted the release of city’s wheat quota by the Punjab government.
“There was no other reason (for the shortage),” he said, explaining that the flour mills in the region remained closed during the holidays.
Worse still, some mill owners reportedly sold the wheat in their stocks to Murree, Hazara and other areas in NWFP and Afghanistan for profit.
Eid only whipped up the lust for profit as in the preceding week the city administration fined some 17,000 shopkeepers for selling flour above the fixed price of Rs295 per 20kg bag.
In addition, the Islamabad administration also pursued public complaints about the quality of flour. It collected scores of samples of wheat flour being sold in the market to check if it contained the correct quantity of choker (bran) and khameer (yeast), the chief commissioner said.
District Coordination Officer of Rawalpindi Irfan Elahi said he had heard about increase in the price of bread in the market but not seen any flour shortage in the city. “Rawalpindi has sufficient quantity of flour. Every type of flour is available in the city,” he told Dawn.
A campaign will be launched to nab nanbaees (bread-makers) who are charging customers more than the fixed price of bread, he said.
Nanbaees in Rawalpindi and adjoining areas have increased the price on their own and are selling khameeri roti for Rs4 and pateeri roti for Rs3.
They claim the prices of roti has increased because the price of flour has gone up. According to them a 20kg bag of brown atta costs them Rs295.
PPI adds: Shopkeepers in shortage-hit areas of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are selling flour to their regular customers only and at higher price.
Khushhal Khan, a nanbaee of Islamabad, said the shortage of flour had increased his sales. “I managed my stock of flour well as I foresaw the demand and shortage Eid holidays would cause,” he said.
Shopkeepers are forcing customers to buy a 100kg bag of flour without any regard to the customer’s income status.