K-P CM orders crackdown on profiteering, hoarding of essential commodities

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi has directed the Food Department to intensify action against profiteering and hoarding of essential commodities, emphasizing that the availability of food items at officially notified prices must be ensured across the province to provide maximum relief to the public.

Chairing an important meeting of the Food Department at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat here on Saturday, the Chief Minister stressed the need for increasing field visits and inspections to improve public facilitation and monitoring of markets.

He also directed the department to formulate a comprehensive plan aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in food grains, particularly wheat, in view of the province’s growing population and rising demand.

The chief minister further instructed officials to take effective measures to enhance wheat storage capacity in the province, underscoring the importance of adopting modern technology and international best practices to minimize post-harvest losses and ensure food security.

The meeting was briefed on the current wheat supply and demand situation in K-P. Officials informed that the province’s annual wheat requirement stands at 5.3 million metric tons, of which only 1.4 million metric tons are produced locally, while the remaining 3.9 million metric tons are procured from other provinces to meet consumption needs.

The meeting was also told that during the past six months, the Food Directorate conducted 186,312 inspections of food-related businesses across the province. As a result of these inspections, 8,802 shops were challaned and fines amounting to Rs31.408 million were imposed on violators.

Briefing the chief minister on the performance of the Food Safety and Halal Food Authority, officials stated that from January to December, 86,817 inspections were carried out. During this period, 403,191 kilograms and liters of unsafe and substandard food items were confiscated and disposed of, while fines totaling Rs84.63 million were imposed.

Additionally, mobile food testing laboratories conducted 14,213 food sample tests during the same period, of which 10,139 samples passed and 4,074 were declared unfit. The Central Food Testing Laboratory tested 2,812 samples, with 2,074 passing and 738 failing quality standards.