Aleem Khan slams Sindh for not releasing wheat to flour mills

LAHORE: Senior & Punjab Food Minister Abdul Aleem Khan has said the Sindh government has not yet officially released a single grain of wheat to the flour mills while all the burden of wheat supply is on the Punjab government.

He said Tuesday that for the last two months the Punjab government has been supplying Rs1475 per maund wheat to flour mills to keep a bag of flour at Rs860 and in this connection, a subsidy of Rs5.25 billion is being borne as well.

The minister said at present only the Punjab government is officially releasing subsidised wheat. A 20 kg bag of flour worth Rs860 is being sold in Punjab while the same is worth Rs1,400 in Karachi.

He said the helpless Sindh government is completely insensitive and it is not only unfavourable for the people of Sindh but also for the whole of Pakistan. He said in order to reduce the prices, it was necessary to have a uniform release price of wheat across the country so that flour could be available to the citizens everywhere at the same price.

If wheat is released in other provinces to flour mills then the price of flour will come down as the situation is aggravated by the transfer of wheat and flour from Punjab to other provinces. He said the Punjab government is well aware of its responsibilities, adding all resources are being utilised for the supply of flour but the Sindh government is showing utter negligence in this regard which puts all the pressure on Punjab.

He said Punjab alone cannot bear the burden of the entire country. To reduce the prices of wheat and flour, flour mills across the country need to get uniform government wheat, like the Punjab province, he added.