Punjab cracks down on flour hoarders

Chohan says they will use specially-developed software to track demand and supply of the essential commodity

RAWALPINDI: Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan on Sunday dispelled the notion that there was a shortage of wheat or flour in Punjab, suggesting that an artificial situation had been created which the government was tackling by taking action against flour mills and other hoarders.

He said this while addressing a news conference at the Rawalpindi Press Club on Sunday.

Chohan said that the provincial government has so far taken strict action against as many as 376 flour mills in the province for hoarding and that licence of at least 15 such mills had been suspended. Moreover, he said that they had imposed fines worth Rs60 million.

To prevent smuggling of the essential commodity, the provincial information minister said that they had set up check posts to clamp down on smuggling, particularly to neighbouring Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

To help wheat dealers and flour mills to maintain the demand and supply ratio for flour, Chohan said that they were developing specific software for the purpose.

He warned that all those mills, which are found to be involved in selling flour from government wheat in the open market, will be sealed. In this regard, he said that instructions have been issued to officers of the food department and the district administrations to ensure the availability of flour at a fixed price.

Regarding the distribution of health cards in the district, he said that the cards have been provided to around 60 per cent of those identified as deserving in the province.

Moreover, he said that tax collection has been improved by 104 per cent, while extra expenditure of the CM Secretariat has been cut by 60 per cent by decreasing the number of camp offices from eight to just one.

He further informed reporters that 57 per cent of the Rs350 billion developmental budget of the province had been released by January 15 for ongoing projects in the province.

Meanwhile, the flour dealer association in Peshawar had said that as many as 25 trucks carrying flour had arrived in the provincial capital on Sunday to address the critical shortage of the essential commodity. The supply of flour had helped lower prices by Rs100 for a 20-kilogramme bag of flour from Rs1,200 to Rs1,100.

The flour was supplied and action against hoarders was taken after Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday had taken notice of the shortage of flour and its skyrocketing price in the open market.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2020.