Karachi flour millers warn of price escalation in city
Earlier the LTU Islamabad sent show cause notices to two flour mills for non-deduction of withholding taxes, which created ripples among millers, who consequently threatened to go on strike ahead of Ramazan and to increase flour price by Rs5 per kg. PHOTO: FILE
The Sindh Food Department is said to have imposed an unannounced ban on the private purchase of wheat for the flour mills in the metropolitan city.
Chaudhry Aamir, Chairman of the Sindh chapter of Pakistan Flour Mills Association, has blamed Food Department Director Imdad Ali Shah for obstructing delivery of private wheat to Karachi.
"Karachi's flour mills are not being allowed to procure wheat," he said while speaking to The Express Tribune. "Due to the non-availability of private wheat, all flour mills of Karachi have virtually stopped," he added.
"Food Department Director Imdad Ali Shah has taken the flour mills hostage," he alleged and warned that this situation would aggravate wheat flour crisis in the city.
Ch Aamir claimed that the government was procuring and dumping all private wheat, while some stockists have so far stacked up 10 million sacks of private wheat.
"The stockists arbitrarily increase the wheat rates on an almost daily basis," he claimed. "It seems that the Food Department wants to extort money by dumping all private wheat of Sindh."
Published in The Express Tribune, April 9th, 2023.