No wheat shortage in Sindh, says minister

KARACHI: The Sindh Information and Local Government Minister, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, has said that flour is available to the people of the province in sufficient quantity and at cheap rates without payment of any subsidies by the provincial government.

Speaking at a press conference here on Thursday, the Sindh information minister said that despite Rs50 million daily subsidy being given in the Punjab, the people there are facing shortage of wheat and flour. He said some federal ministers were trying to hold the Sindh government responsible for the issues created due to the inefficiency of the federal government and other provinces. He said it seems that the federal government has colluded with the hoarders to create the wheat crisis in the country. Nasir Hussain Shah said the Sindh Food Department met its annual wheat procurement target and the flour mills were allowed to maintain wheat stocks equivalent to their three months’ quota and there was no shortage in the province.

Speaking on the occasion, President of Sindh Flour Mills Association, Chaudhry Muhammad Yousuf, appreciated the role of the Sindh Food Department. He said the Sindh government allowed the flour mills to stockpile wheat reserves equivalent to their three months’ quota. On the contrary, he said the Punjab government did not allow the flour mills to procure wheat and people were facing wheat and flour shortages, despite the Punjab government’s subsidy. He said the people in Punjab were also purchasing expensive wheat and flour.

Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Education and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani claimed that performance of the Sindh government was much better in comparison to the other provinces and the federal government. To a question, he said that neither the federal nor the Sindh government were responsible for cleaning storm water drains as it was the work of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and district municipal corporations in Karachi. He said despite this, the Sindh government was cleaning the drains. The Sindh government is dong so on its own without release of funds by the World Bank. Ghani said that the National Disaster Management Authority is only de-silting three out of 38 major storm water drains while the rest were being carried out by the Sindh government and KMC.