Govt sees end to wheat flour crisis soon amid strike threat in KP.

Byline: Amjad Mahmood

LAHORE -- As the masses continued to struggle to get wheat flour at official rates, the federal minister for food security on Sunday announced that the crisis would be over soon and prices would normalise by Tuesday.

The announcement came a day before the nanbais across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are set to go on a strike in protest against the shortage of supply along with government measures to keep the prices of roti unchanged.

The staple food item price has registered an increase of Rs25 per kilogram in recent days, as the opposition demands a probe into the 'artificial' crisis.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Sunday, Minister for National Food Security and Research Makhdoom Khusro BakhAtiar held a ban by the Punjab government on inter-provincial movement and the continued strike of transporters in Karachi as the reasons behind the flour shortage in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.

Shahbaz seeks probe into wheat export

He said both the transport strike and the ban on wheat movement that had affected the demand and supply in local markets had been 'addressed' and the supply of grains restored. He expressed the hope that flour price would normalise by Tuesday.

Mr Bakhtiar claimed that sufficient wheat stocks were available in the country to fulfil domestic requirements and expressed firm resolve to take strict action against those involved in hoarding, profiteering or creating 'artificial' crisis of the commodity in domestic markets.

Special adviser to the prime minister on information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan accused the PPP-led Sindh government of not lifting its allocated wheat share in time from Passco, the federal wheat procurement body, leading to the crisis in the province.

Talking to the media in Sialkot, Dr Awan criticised the Sindh government for 'miserably failing' in managing the demand and supply gap in the province for controlling flour crisis, and in the same breath alleged that a mafia was creating artificial shortage of wheat and flour by making [heavy] purchases in the local markets in a bid to earn more as well as launder their black money.

She said the federal government was breaking the nexus of this mafia to rid the people of artificial flour crisis.

She said the Sindh government failed in ensuring the smooth and early provision of wheat to the flour mills in the province besides showing negligence in timely wheat procurement.

Countering the allegations levelled by the federal cabinet members...