QCCI demands flour supply on daily basis

Chairman of the Flour Mills Association said that the ban came into effect on April 16


Mohammad Zafar May 05, 2020
PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE

QUETTA: Senior Vice President of Quetta Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Badruddin Kakar and other officials demanded Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan, Balochistan chief secretary and other officials to form a committee, issuing orders to supply flour to mills on a daily basis.

"Ban on inter-district transport of wheat, as inter-provincial movement is leading to destruction of flour mills industry and unemployment of its people," they said during a meeting with Chairman Flour Mills Association Balochistan Syed Saleh Agha yesterday.

The delegation consisting of Executive Member Muhammad Sharif Agha, Syed Zahoor Agha, Abdul Wahid Barech, other officials of the Flour Mills Association spoke about the post-inter-provincial ban on movement of wheat and its impact on the flour mills industry.

On the occasion, Badruddin Kakar, Senior Vice President Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Quetta Balochistan, said that unfortunately, there was a deliberate attempt to shut down the flour mills industry in the province. "The flour mills are not able to get wheat, it is said that wheat is being smuggled, although compared to other areas of Balochistan, wheat from Jaffarabad and Naseerabad to Sindh and other areas are easier to smuggle," he said.

He added that it requires huge sums of money for wheat stocks, neither the mill owners have the money, nor the banks gives loans to the flour mill owners in Balochistan, even though the flour mill owners in other provinces of the country have the facility of loans.

"Due to the same economic downturn, the flour mill owners in Balochistan purchase. They buy and sell wheat on the basis that they do not have the required loans and other facilities for stock. In such cases, the ban on inter-district movement of wheat by the Food Department of Balochistan is beyond comprehension," they said.

Chairman of the Flour Mills Association said that the ban came into effect on April 16. Since then, wheat has been used for flour mills in the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 5th, 2020.

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