20kg flour bag hits Rs2750 mark in Hangu

HANGU: The price of a 20-kilogram wheat flour bag reached Rs2750 as people are facing acute shortage of the staple commodity due to ban on the transportation of wheat and flour by the Punjab government to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Long queues of people, mostly labourers and daily wagers, were seen waiting for the subsidized wheat flour at various points but they went back empty handed when the commodity was not supplied there.

“I did not go to work and came here to purchase a bag of subsidised flour for the family but it is now 2pm and no flour is available,” Dilawar Khan, a daily wager, said, adding that he cannot afford to buy a bag of flour for Rs2750.

He said that he would need four days to work regularly and earn Rs2800 to buy just a single 20kg bag of flour for the family.

“What we will do with other expenses of ghee, sugar, pulses, tea etc if we arrange a bag of flour in my meagre income,” Arif Khan, another labourer, posed a question, saying that the poor people were now being deprived of square meals because of the unprecedented price-hike and economic meltdown.

The customers criticised the Punjab government for the ban on transportation of wheat flour to KP and said that poor people would face starvation if the ban was not lifted.