Millers decry wheat seizure
A worker piles up bags of flour inside a warehouse in Iraq's southern port city of Basra. AFP
Millers in Karachi have accused the Sindh Food Department of seizing its trucks while warning of flour shortage in the metropolis during Ramazan.
The head of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association for Sindh region, Chaudhry Aamir, told The Express Tribune that officials of the food department seized 15 trucks of wheat coming from inland Sindh in Kathore and on the National Highway.
He said there were no restrictions in place to bring wheat to Karachi while adding that the seized trucks were unloaded at a government warehouse in Landhi.
Aamir said that the provincial government should procure wheat instead of seizing the produce and stocks of the private sector.
He said the flour mills were under pressure to sell flour at the government mandated rate but the authorities had failed to supply the required quantity of wheat.
Aamir said that 10,000 tonnes of wheat is milled daily in Karachi. Of that, between 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes comes to Karachi from Sindh everyday. He said any seizure of such consignments could lead to shortage.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 15th, 2023.