Govt survey to classify tandoors as commercial or non-commercial entities

To ensure cheap rotis and naans, the government has decided to offer a subsidy to the Sui Southern Gas Company

LAHORE: In a bid to make the basic necessities of life easily affordable and accessible in Naya Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan is making sure that people can get rotis and naans at the cheapest possible rates.

To that end, the government has offered a subsidy to the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Federal Minister for Petroleum Ghulam Sarwar Khan has begun surveying tandoors (naan shops) across the country.

Based on annual sales, gas bills and the tandoor shops’ independent status or affiliation with restaurants, they will be classified accordingly as commercial or non-commercial tandoors after which the subsidy will be offered to them following a special formula. The survey will also reveal the actual number of tandoor shops operating in the country.

PM Imran Khan and the Chief Minister of Punjab Usman Buzdar have also issued directives to the food and industrial departments to ensure the provision of quality rotis and naans.

“The provision of quality food is a prerogative of the government and it will not make any compromises in that regard,” the provincial minister food Sami Ullah Chaudhry told The Express Tribune.

In Punjab, over 65 flour mills across have been asked by the food department to pay hefty fines after a laboratory analysis showed that mills were supplying substandard quality of flour to the tandoors.

In this regard, seventeen flour mills in Lahore, 15 in Rawalpindi, 14 in Sahiwal and 15 flour mills in Faisalabad have been fined for not meeting the required standards.

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Similarly, the industrial department has taken action against 400 tandoors for not complying with the standardised weights of rotis and naans. The food department only allows 13.5% of moisture in the flour and if that weight is exceeded, the flour mills are either required to pay fines or are sealed. Fines are also imposed if the globin content in the flour is less than the standard rate of 8%.

According to the details obtained by The Express Tribune, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has approved Rs1.5 billion of gas subsidy for non-commercial tandoors. A survey has been initiated by the federal petroleum minister to acquire details of all the tandoors and their gas connections are being checked during the survey. Their annual sales are also being verified with their gas bills.

Tandoors that supply rotis and naans to hotels and restaurants will be categorised as commercial ones and their subsidy will be set following a set formula. According to government sources, the Naan Bai Associations claim that there are more tandoors than the documented ones, therefore, the survey will help reveal the actual number of tandoors in the province.

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The secretary and director of the food department have directed all deputy directors and district food controllers to ensure the sampling of flour. Besides, the dough for each roti is being weighed using electronic balances, and based on the results, around 500 tandoors have been fined for selling rotis and naans against the standard weights.

Secretary industrial department Punjab Tahir Khurshid said that the standard weight of a roti and a naan is 100g and 120g, respectively.

“Our teams are checking tandoors across the province and the fines are being imposed on the owners of tandoors who are selling violating the set standards,” he affirmed.