70% of flour mills in K-P shut amid Punjab ban
A worker puts wheat in a machine to make flour at a shop in a Karachi neighbourhood. Photo: Jalal Qureshi/express
Pakistan Flour Mills Association Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (PFMA-K-P) on Wednesday said that a ban on the transportation of wheat from Punjab to other provinces has forced closure of 70 per cent of flour industry in K-P.
The association urged the prime minister to take notice of the ban on wheat transportation from Punjab to K-P and other provinces and remove it soon.
Addressing a press conference here, chairman PFMA-KP Muhammad Iqbal said that under Article 151 of the constitution the ban on wheat movement was unconstitutional, adding that the prime minister, chief ministers of Punjab and K-P should take notice of the issue and order removal of all the check posts of the police and other agencies set up by the Punjab government to stop the transportation of wheat to other provinces.
He further called for steps to avert such ban on edible items especially on wheat in future and provide relief to flour mill industry in K-P.
He said that at present, there are abundant reserves of wheat in the province of Punjab and the food department under its wheat procurement policy allowed flour mills of Punjab to purchase wheat, however due to ban on transportation of wheat to other provinces, the people are forced to purchase flour at the rate of Rs3,000 to 4,000 per 20 kilo bag.
He said that PFMA-K-P requests the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, the Governor K-P Ghulam Ali, K-P Chief Minister Azam Khan, K-P Food Minister, chief secretary and the food department to allow K-P flour mills to freely purchase wheat from the private market of Punjab so that the closed flour mill industry of the province could restart its operations and provide cheap and quality flour to the people locally.
He urged the prime minister to announce a special relief package for provincial flour mills so that the unemployed labourers could get back to their jobs.
He deplored that a petition over the issue was filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan in August last year but despite the passage of 10 months, no hearing was conducted.
Iqbal said the chief justice of Pakistan should take notice of the violation of Article 151 and fix a date soon for a hearing on the petition of PFMA.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 4th, 2023.