PESHAWAR, Dec 6: The NWFP has asked the Punjab government not to hinder supply of wheat and flour to the Frontier province where their prices have risen by almost 50 per cent over the last couple of months.

“I called the Punjab governor and asked for steps to remove unofficial restrictions on supply of wheat and flour to NWFP markets,” said NWFP Chief Minister Shamsul Mulk who addressed two meetings held here on Thursday to discuss the flour crisis.

Officially, there is no restriction on supply of wheat and flour from Punjab, but flour millers in the NWFP complain that the authorities in Punjab are hindering the supply by issuing verbal directives.

One of the meetings, which was attended among others by the NWFP chief secretary, secretaries for food and law departments and the Peshawar district nazim, decided that the provincial government would procure 200,000 tons of wheat from the open market and would also contact the federal government for giving subsidy on the commodity so that financial woes of the common man could be reduced.

Mr Mulk asked intelligence agencies, district governments and the food department to launch an effective campaign against hoarders and profiteers. He also called for regular checking of the availability of flour on reasonable rates and said hoarders and profiteers should be blacklisted.

He called for a proper system to monitor the availability position of flour in the market, saying it was a crucial issue. The government would not take cosmetic steps but would expose elements responsible for creating an artificial shortage, he said.

Even though supply of flour from Punjab continued on Thursday, its prices remained on the higher side as a 20-kg flour bag was sold for Rs395 to Rs425 in the local market.