Flour mills end strike after talks with Punjab govt

PFMA office-bearers say no increase in flour price during Eid holidays

LAHORE: The Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) ended their strike after the Punjab government accepted their demands, the PFMA office-bearers announced at a joint press conference with the Punjab food secretary here on Tuesday.

They said that during the Eidul Fitr holidays, flour mills would sell flour at last year's price, while immediately after Eid, the food department and the PFMA would jointly decide on a new price proportionate to the current wheat price in the open market.

The press conference followed a meeting between a 10-member PFMA delegation, led by its Central Chairman Asim Raza and Provincial President Abdul Rauf Mukhtar, and Senior Minister for Food Abdul Aleem Khan.



It was decided in the meeting that that flour prices would not be increased till Eidul Fitr while the district administrations would not raid the flour mills. However, the provincial food department would have the access to the mills.

The senior minister told the PFMA that the flour mills were being allowed to store wheat for 7 days instead of 72 hours but the mills would be required to declare their stocks. He directed the chief secretary to relay his new instructions at the division and district level.

Khan also said that he wanted to put in place a new mechanism for the wheat procurement, for which, he stressed that all the stakeholders concerned should be on same page. In this regard, he added, a joint meeting of the food department and the flour mills would be held immediately after Eid.

The senior minister clarified that the government's job should not be to procure raw materials but to regulate and facilitate flour mills. “The government spends a lot of money on the purchase of wheat, and the process of storing it and delivering it back to the flour mills is also costly,” Khan said.



“A new strategy will be worked out for the procurement of wheat and the gunny bags,” the senior minister added. He asked the PFMA office-bearers to forward their suggestions so that a roadmap could be formulated.

It was also decided in the meeting that supply of wheat to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa flour mills would be started after Eid. However, wheat would be procured by K-P's food department in collaboration with the Punjab government.

During the meeting, Asim Raza, Central Chairman, PFMA, Abdul Rauf Mukhtar, Provincial President, Mian Nadeem Nisar, Iftikhar Matoo and Khurram Shehzad informed about the excesses being committed against flour mills in different districts.

Liaquat Ali Khan, Mian Riaz, Hafiz Ahmed, Farrukh Shehzad and Mian Naseem also informed the meeting that the situation was more serious in Sargodha, Multan, Gujarat and Kasur districts, where flour mills did not have wheat for grinding. The PFMA delegation thanked the senior minister for listening to their demands and their immediate solution and assured him of their full cooperation.