Mill association concerned over flour crisis in Pindi during Ramazan.

TAXILA -- The Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) on Sunday warned of a flour crisis in Rawalpindi region during Ramazan due to unjust policies of the Punjab food department as well as the district administration.

All Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) Rawalpindi region Vice Chairman Mohammad Imran has condemned violation of mutually agreed standard operating procedures (SOPs) by the secretary food and the security risk at trucking points including robberies and life threats to the staff, private wheat movement within Punjab and movement of wheat products from Punjab.

A representative of the association said that some districts like Rawalpindi produced less wheat and millers procured the commodity from other districts like Attock and Jhelum and the ban imposed by the food department on movement of wheat had resulted in unavailability of stock which would result in increase in the prices of flour bags.

He said that managers of various mills were arrested, while false cases were instituted against many others on charges of misappropriation of wheat quota given by the department for grinding and selling flour in special green bags for their sale on a subsidised rate.

VC condemns violation of mutually agreed SOPs by food department

He said: 'We were directed to lift wheat from Hafizabad and when the consignment was transported to Rawalpindi, the food department and police confiscated it, causing loss worth millions of rupees. We had invested billions of rupees in the flour milling business only to be called 'thieves' and this attitude of the department could not be tolerated.'

Another office bearer of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) said that the official quota of wheat was low and it was being sold at Rs5,400 per maund in the open market. With the price of wheat hitting Rs5,000 per maund in grain markets, the rate of flour hit Rs160 per kilogramme in Rawalpindi's open...