Peshawar admin decides to distribute free flour at village council level.

PESHAWAR -- Amid ongoing protests against unavailability of free flour, Peshawar district administration has reverted to distribution of the commodity at village and neighbourhood council level after a mob looted a flour truck at one of the major distribution points a day earlier.

On Monday, a mob looted a flour truck at Ring Road Park while similar incident was also reported from Dera Ismail Khan.

Officials told Dawn that earlier authorities had planned to distribute free flour at two major points in Hayatabad and Ring Road Park. However, after the Monday's incident, they decided to shift the distribution of free flour to village and neighbourhood council level. 'About two to three points would be setup at each flour distribution centre. We are going to set up more than 800 such points in the provincial capital,' an official said.

He said that distribution through two main centres was planned as experiments; however, it failed due to impatience and lack of discipline among people. Besides, he said, a large number of people from other districts were residing in Peshawar and they were also visiting the flour distribution points, which was leading to congestion and overcrowding at those centres.

Protests against unavailability of the commodity continue in different districts

The provincial caretaker minister for food, Haji Fazal Elahi, told Dawn that government had decided to increase the flour distribution points to over 800 to control the situation.

He said that situation across the province remained normal on Tuesday. He said that there was no shortage of lour and more wheat was likely to arrive soon.

On the other hand, a large number of people gathered in Ashraf Road, Khyber Colony, Yousafabad, Ittehad Colony, Zaryab Colony, Faqeerabad, Ring Road, Badhber and other parts of the city to collect free flour and squabbled with each other.

Also on Tuesday, a large number of protesters including women staged a sit-in on Ring Road against unavailability of free flour. Similarly, protests took place on Kohat Road and Zarghuni Mosque Road in Hayatabad against unavailability of flour.

The protesters alleged that they were forced to wait for long and then returned home empty handed. They also alleged that flour was distributed among blue-eyed boys and poor were not receiving their share.

On the other hand, mobs looted about 986 more bags of flour in different areas of Dera Ismail Khan division on Tuesday.

Commissioner Nisar Ahmed took notice of...