LAHORE: The flour crisis may resurface in the provincial capital as flour mills have refused to lift wheat from the food department storages located in other districts.

An official of the department says that their wheat storages in Lahore have almost exhausted while tenders for transportation of wheat from other districts to Lahore and other major wheat consuming towns are still under process.

At least 4,000 tonnes per day wheat is being released to flour mills in Lahore and only 47,000 tonnes of the commodity are left in the storages in the city, which means these stocks will not last more than two weeks.

To offset the pressure on the local stocks, the department asked the flour millers to lift their wheat quota from Okara and other adjoining districts but most of them refused to do so, demanding that they should be supplied grain from Lahore storages.

Pakistan Flour Mills Association leader Asim Raza says they had entered into an agreement with the food department for lifting 25pc wheat from outside Lahore and a summary to the effect is yet to be approved by the provincial cabinet.

Now the department is urging the millers to lift 100pc grain from other districts, which is not possible for them unless the government pays them transportation charges or lowers the wheat rate accordingly, he says.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2021