Govt fails to control flour prices
The price of flour in Rawalpindi could not be reduced despite the orders of Prime Minister Imran Khan. A 20 kg bag of fine flour is being sold at Rs1,100 against the official rate of Rs860. Unable to make shopkeepers sell the staple at the prescribed rates, the administration has opened its own stalls, The administration has set up fair price shops where flour is sold at government rates but the citizen maintain that the quality of flour from such shops is poor. Consequently, the citizens are forced to buy flour at high prices from the market where the price of 20 kg bag of flour is Rs1100. The wholesalers blame the increase in wheat prices for the inflated rates and maintain that they are getting flour at higher rates from mills.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 25th, 2020.