PESHAWAR: Owners of flour mills in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday announced to shut their operations for an indefinite period from Monday (today) to protest the suspension of wheat quota to the mills.

Pakistan Flour Mills Association, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president Haji Mohammad Iqbal Khan told Dawn that the Punjab government had stopped the wheat supply to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other provinces during the lean period to complete procurement of the grain.

He said flour millers of Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had announced to shut down their operations as the mills in Punjab were also not given the quota. Besides, the administration in Punjab was conducting raids on the mills’ godowns under the pretext of anti-hoarding ordinance.

Mr Iqbal said that the KP mills were facing hardships in getting wheat from Punjab and other provinces. He said that All Pakistan Flour Mills Association (APFMA) had announced to observe countrywide strike against the government policy, saying that the mills closure would lead to massive unemployment in the country.

He said that all of the 180 flour mills in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had stopped grinding which would definitely cause shortage of flour in the province in the days to come.

Mr Iqbal said the mills’ owners had held several meetings with officials of food department and apprised the provincial government of the possible flour crisis, but to no avail. He said the suspension of wheat from Punjab was in violation of the constitution’s article 151 (provinces cannot impose a ban on movement of edible commodities throughout Pakistan).

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2020