Hyderabad chakki owners close shops for lack of wheat supply.

HYDERABAD -- Chakki owners have closed their shops for want of required supplies of wheat from public food godowns.

A quota of 20,000 wheat bags for Jan 15-31 fortnight was said to have been approved only on Wednesday by the food department to be supplied to chakkis and roller flour mills.

Due to inadequate supplies of wheat, chakki owners have closed their shops as according to them they could not bear losses. Secondly, they claimed that the district administration was also asking them to sell wheat at Rs52 per kilogram as retail price, which was not possible. They were suffering losses as the food department was supplying them wheat quota of 174kg per stone a day, they said. It was increased only recently from 140kg per stone per day. Flour mills get major share in overall wheat released from the food department.

Hyderabad Atta Chakki Owners Association general secretary Haroon Arain claimed that 174kg was exhausted in two hours, forcing them to buy expensive wheat at current rate of Rs52 per kg from the open market to meet flour production requirement, which took flour production cost to Rs66 after including overhead charges.

'The administration wants us to sell this flour at retail price of Rs52 per kg as if we have bought wheat at Rs34.50 per kg,' he said. He said that when they sold flour at Rs66 per kg, the administration forced them to sell it at official price of Rs52/kg because it calculated wheat's cost at Rs34.50 per kg, at which the food department was required to supply,' he said.

He said that neither the food department increased wheat supplies nor the administration fixed per 100kg bag price of wheat for the open market. Still it was pressing the chakki owners to supply flour at Rs52 per kg, which was not possible, he said.

'Only today we are provided challan by the food department for getting 174kg wheat per stone per day quota,' he said. He explained that each chakki owner required 2,400kg wheat per day as per capacity, but at least half of that should be released by the department. 'Only 7.25pc of actual daily requirement [for flour production] is being provided, forcing us to purchase expensive wheat...