Flatbread rates may rise further

RAWALPINDI:

A representative body of the flatbread makers, Naanbai Association, has announced to stage a sit-in at D-Chowk on August 10 to protest against inflated gas bills and the high cost of flour. Naanbai Association President Shafique Qureshi said that flatbread makers from across the country will stage a demonstration over the failure of the government to control flour prices otherwise naan prices can shoot past Rs15. He asserted that the government has lost its writ to control rates of staple commodities. They added that the government will have to implement the official rates for flour, otherwise, the naanbais will be forced to increase the rates of naans, he said. Qureshi rejected the notion that he had held any meeting with the deputy commissioner (DC), adding that DC’s only job was to give a sweet pill to protesting people as nothing was in his control. Other office-bearers of Naanbai Association including General Secretary Khursheed Qureshi, Vice President Imran Khan Qureshi, and others stated that the government has become helpless before the sugar and flour mill owners.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2020.