SWABI, July 13: The price of wheat flour has sharply increased since the start of Ramazan in Swabi, stressing out the people, who are already hit hard by high inflation.

The local residents told Dawn on Saturday that there was no mechanism in place to control prices of kitchen items, including wheat flour, and therefore, traders profiteered without let or hindrance.

They said food inspectors and price control committees were of no use.

Gul Nabi Khan of Maneri said mill owners had categorised wheat flour into super, fine and mixed with each having a separate price.

“The categorisation of wheat flour is meant to exploit the people,” he said.

The millers said the increase in wheat support price from Rs1,050 to Rs1,200 per 40 kg had caused flour prices to surge.

Currently, three varieties of flour are available on the market.

A 20 kg bag of mixed, fine and super fine flour is selling at Rs745, Rs765 and Rs810 respectively.

Jamil Khan, a local Wapda employee, said before Ramazan began, mixed flour was selling at Rs730, fine flour at Rs740 and super fine flour at Rs775 but the flour prices had sharply increased to the misery of the common man.

He said the price of 85 kg maida bag had increased from Rs3,500 to Rs3,600.

The customer also complained that the flour bag weighed less than the promised 20 kg.

The people said though there was a bumper wheat crop this year, they were paying a higher price for flour and both traders and millers were to blame.

Traders said the 50 kg wheat bag was selling at Rs1,700-Rs1,800 and therefore, the price of flour was Rs35-Rs36 per kg.

They said after it was cleaned at mills, weight of 50 kg wheat went down to 47 kg and after the addition of the grinding cost and transportation charges, the price of 50 kg flour bag came to around Rs2,000.

The traders said if the people thought about those expenditure, they would release that they were not overcharged.

A miller said the official price of 40 kg wheat was Rs1,200 but it was sold at Rs1,440 on the market.

District president of Anjuman-i-Dokandaran Laiq Khan said traders never increased flour prices on their own but it was the millers, who were responsible for it.

“If millers provide us flour at low rate, then we sell it at low price. The government and millers should fix the flour prices,” he said.