Nanbais' strike shuts tandoors in Rawalpindi

Strike leaves thousands without breakfast, cripples small eateries

RAWALPINDI:

The Nanbai Association has announced a complete shutter-down strike in protest against the record increase in flour and fine flour prices, as well as the fines and FIRs being registered by the Punjab Enforcement Regulatory Authority (PERA) and the police.

As a result, all 21,000 tandoors across Rawalpindi Division remained closed on Wednesday, forcing a large number of students and employees to go to schools and offices without breakfast.

The strike also crippled the business of small eateries and hotels. The association has announced to continue the strike today (Thursday) as well.

The district administration's invitation for immediate negotiations was rejected by the Nanbai Association, which claimed that negotiations were being used as a pretext for arrests.

The association stated that during the previous strike, they were also called for talks and then detained.

Due to the strike, citizens faced severe difficulties in buying bread, naan, and parathas.

Vendors selling chickpeas on carts were also affected. With all tandoors closed, small tea stalls and hotels faced major disruption as bread and roti were unavailable.

Nanbai Association President Shafiq Qureshi said that a year and a half ago, the price of a 50-kg bag of red flour was Rs5,500, which has now reached Rs10,500.

The price of fine flour (maida) has increased from Rs6,200 to Rs12,000. "We cannot sell roti for Rs14 when we buy flour at such high prices," he said.

He added that PERA was imposing fines of Rs50,000 to Rs100,000, ruining their businesses. "In the past year and a half, the cost of electricity, gas, shop rent, and labour has increased manifold. There is no gas supply, and we are forced to buy cylinders at Rs15,000, while the bills still amount to lakhs," he added.

As tandoors remained closed, bakeries witnessed record sales of bread and buns in the morning. Small vendors arranged for homemade rotis to continue their business.

Citizen Faisal Siddiqui said, "The government must resolve this issue immediately through talks so that the burden does not fall on the public." Another resident, Azmat Ali, said, "We had to rely on bread instead of naan today, but it's not a substitute. The administration should listen to the tandoor owners and settle the matter."