Protests continue over govt failure to rein in profiteers.

LARKANA -- A large number of people took to the streets in Larkana and Mithi towns on Tuesday and staged demonstrations to protest against steep rise in the price of flour and Sindh government's failure to rein in profiteers and provide subsidised atta to inflation-hit population.

In Larkana, the protesters who had arrived from Dari locality, Allahabad and Bakrani road areas, Khaliq Colony, Shahu Boraho, Otha Chowk and Bachu Boraho areas gathered near an overhead bridge and staged a demonstration.

The protesters' leaders Syed Rafiq Shah, Abdul Hameed Mirani and Abdul Hameed Jatoi said that the flour stalls established in the city had failed to meet the massive demand while a centre set up near Tank Chowk remained closed.

They said that being poor and daily wage earners they could not afford to purchase flour from the open market and atta chakkis where it was being sold at the rate of Rs130 to 150 per kilo.

They demanded action against hoarders and profiteers and called on chief minister to increase the number of government-run flour outlets to sell the commodity at controlled rate.

Meanwhile, acting deputy commissioner Ms Rabiya Siyal inspected flour mills and flour centers in the city on Tuesday. She asked the mill owners and the centres' managers to ensure supplying flour at the rate of Rs650 per 10 kilogram to buyers. The violators would face the music, she warned.

She told media persons that Sindh government was taking measures to provide flour to people at subsided rate. Eight flour centres had been set up in Larkana...