SANGHAR, Jan 27: Wheat stocks in all the nine government godowns of the district have been exhausted due to which flour prices have climbed to Rs14 per kg in cities and more than Rs16 in towns of the district.

The food department had to issue 12 bags a Chakki this month instead of the normal quota of 80 bags as there was not enough wheat. Moreover, there is no stock left for the next delivery as 40,000 bags purchased by the Sindh government through Pasco have not reached here so far.

When contacted, District Food Controller Jan Mohammad Khoso was not willing to divulge anything about the situation. However, it was learnt that 70,000 bags were required for February and March.

The food department had shifted the wheat stocks from Sanghar to Karachi and other destinations some time back without considering local requirements. Moreover, flour supplied by mills of Punjab and available at local shops is substandard with bitter taste and bad smell.

NBP: Hundreds of employees and clients of the National Bank of Pakistan could not get their cheques cashed on Tuesday due to some fault in the computer system of the bank's local branch.

The bank issued tokens against cheques to the clients and employees for encashment on the next day. The worst sufferers were those employees who had come from far-flung areas to get their Eid advance. Experts were busy finding out the fault which occurred on Monday but were unable to fix it till the filing of this report.