HARIPUR: Three days after going on strike, flour millers announced resumption of their business here on Thursday and agreed to collect the quota of subsidised wheat as the local administration accepted their demands.

District food controller Shiraz Anwar confirmed the development and said the millers had called off the strike immediately.

Tahir Mahmood of the Haripur Flour Mills Association told Dawn that local millers had been observing a strike since Monday against their “harassment” by officers of the local administration through heavy fines over petty issues and surprise visits during odd times and that, too, without being accompanied by officials of the food department.

He said all 12 mills, which used to supply 10,300 bags of subsidised flour to the people in the district, hadn’t lifted their wheat quota and thus, causing a flour shortage.

The millers had alleged that a woman assistant commissioner was “punishing” them for contributing less funds for the Turkiye earthquake relief programme than what she had asked for.

Officials of the district administration held talks with leaders of the Hazara Flour Mills Association and Haripur Flour Mills Association on Thursday afternoon.

Mr Tahir said the administration had assured millers that it won’t conduct visits to their premises during “odd hours” and without food officials.

When contacted, district food controller Shiraz Anwar confirmed that millers had called off their strike and started lifting their daily quota of subsidised wheat for grinding and supplying flour to the deserving consumers in the district.

He said the administration would ensure early resolution of the millers’ issues.

Earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Flour Mills Association president Haji Mohammad Iqbal, Havelian Flour Mills Association president Majid Tanoli,Mansehra Flour Mills Association president Qari Noor Mohammad and Haripur Flour Mills Association office-bearer Ahmad Qureshi flayed the local administration for “complicating things.”

During a news conference, they warned that they would extend the strike if the district administration continued to harass flour millers, who ensured the supply of subsidised flour to the people despite facing odds.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2023