People say substandard flour being sold in Mardan

MARDAN: People here on Friday complained that subsidized flour had disappeared from the market and alleged that some dealers, who had been allotted the quota to sell the commodity at cheap rates, were selling substandard flour.

The district Food Department has allotted quotas to more than 560 dealers for the sale of subsidized flour.

More than 22 flourmills in Mardan were supposed to provide subsidized flour to 560 dealers per day. The district Food Department allegedly included the names of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers, relatives of the flourmill owners and that of senior officials.

The sources added that the majority of the quota holders in Mardan leave their flour bags in the flourmills and later the mill owners allegedly sell the commodity in the market.

It is alleged that some journalists also obtained quota of the subsidized flour.

Several individuals got three to five quotas under different names.

A few days ago, Food Minister Mohammad Atif Khan transferred DFC Mardan on a complaint of large-scale wastage of government flour in the district.

Deputy Commissioner Abdur Rehman later issued a notification stating that all flour dealers of Mardan, who had been approved previously, were hereby de-notified.

A committee was also notified that included the officials of the district administration and Food Department to scrutinize new applications of flour dealers in the district within five days.

On January 3, the district administration issued another list of 234 dealers for government subsidized flour distribution.

The district administration also closed the fair price shop at flourmills. However, despite all these measures, the majority of the people complained that the subsidized flour had disappeared from different areas.

They also complained that some of the dealers were selling substandard subsidized flour.

Meanwhile, different political parties staged protest rallies against the unavailability of flour in the district.