PESHAWAR, July 17: The price of 20kg flour bag went up by 19 per cent over the past two weeks in the provincial capital, officials and dealers said.

An official of the food department told Dawn that dealers could purchase flour in the open market from parts of Punjab and there were no restrictions on those having permits.

Referring to the increasing prices of the commodity, he said it was due to flour smuggling to Afghanistan, adding that it was not the food department’s responsibility to stop the smuggling and its job was to ensure supply of flour to dealers and check the prices.

He said it was the duty of law-enforcement agencies to take action against the smugglers and seize flour being smuggled to Afghanistan. He said the smugglers had worsened the problem and the poor were unable to afford the ever increasing rates.

Peshawar Wholesale Food Grain Dealers and General Merchants Association president Mr Rambel told Dawn that the price of flour was fast increasing because, he claimed, the Punjab government had purchased sufficient wheat and completed its quota and it had given a free hand to dealers in the province to sell the commodity at their will.

Private dealers in Punjab, he said, had supplied 20kg flour bags to the Punjab government at Rs375, but they had increased the rate for dealers of the other provinces and were charging people at their own discretion.

During the past two weeks, he said, the price of 20kg flour had increased from Rs420 to Rs500.

He said the rates of flour were not the same even in Punjab. In some districts, he said, 20kg flour was sold to dealers at Rs460 to 470 and in other areas like Sargodha the same quantity was sold at Rs490.

Another dealer, Raziq Khan, said the situation had worsened due to flour smuggling to Afghanistan, alleging that officials of law-enforcement agencies were hand in glove with the smugglers.

Local dealers complained that the government had abolished fair prices shops and people were forced to purchase the commodity in the open market at higher rates.

They urged the government to re-establish fair prices shops in every union council.

Peshawar’s Anjuman Nanbayan president Mohammed Iqbal also expressed concern over the increasing rates of flour and called upon the government to increase the price of bread.

Meanwhile, local police claimed to have seized hundreds of bags of flour and arrested truck drivers in the limits of Mathni and Badbher police stations on Thursday.

A police official said the flour had been transported from the Peshawar city to areas close to tribal agencies, which was to be smuggled to Afghanistan in pickups and other light vehicles.