DFD distributes wheat quota among 50 flourmills

Rawalpindi: To avoid flour shortage, the District Food Department (DFD) has given government wheat quota to those flourmills they did not participate in strike. Total 80 flourmills out of 130 here in Rawalpindi and Islamabad participated in strike and did not take government wheat quota to record their protest here on Monday.

There are total 130 flourmills here in district while 80 flourmills took part in strike while 50 flourmills did not participate. The District Food Department (DFD) on the directions of Secretary (Food) has given wheat quota of 49,000 sack of 100-kilogram to those flourmills they did not participate in strike. The District Food Department (DFD) has distributed whole government wheat quota among 50 flourmills equally.

The District Food Controller (DFC) Muhammad Ramazan told ‘The News’ that we have managed expected shortage of ‘atta’ here on Monday. There was enough ‘atta’ all around district because we have distributed government wheat quota to those flourmills they did not participate in strike, he said. He said that we will not blackmail in the hands of flourmill owners. We will continue action against flourmills involved in hoarding, he warned.

Some three days ago, Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) Punjab chapter Chaudfhry Iftikhar Ahmed Mattu threatened to observe a strike because Punjab government failed to meet their demands. He said that the supply of flour stocks was affected due to the food secretary’s wrong policies.

The reliable sources from Punjab Food Department said that in fact, flourmill owners were getting government quota but not supplying ‘atta’ bags on subsidised prices. Secondly, several flourmills were selling ‘atta’ on skyrocketing prices and third they were not properly adopting SOPs. The flourmill owners were blackmailing Punjab government to give them a free hand to loot public but in vain, the sources said.