HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Atta Chakki Owners Social Welfare Association has expressed disappointment over the Sindh government’s decision to fix the wheat issue price for flour mills and chakki owners at Rs12,500.

In a joint statement on Thursday, association President Haji Mohammad Memon, Vice President Abdul Farooq Rathor, General Secretary Haji Najmuddin Chohan and others said the government had raised the issue price from Rs8,000 per 100kg bag to Rs12,500. They called the increase “highly regrettable” and said it amounted to “dropping a bomb on the poor”, as it would push up the retail price of flour further.

They said consumers were already struggling with high prices and that the increase would fuel inflation. They claimed hoarders had become active soon after the announcement and had raised the market price of wheat from Rs13,100 to Rs14,300 per 100kg.

The office-bearers said the Rs4,500 increase per 100kg bag negated the “roti, kapra aur makan” slogan of PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and had “broken the back” of consumers. They said people now felt the government was indifferent to their misery, and that the decision would also add to the problems of roller flour mills and chakki owners. They said a subsidy on wheat had been talked about but did not exist in practice.

They demanded that the chief minister, the food minister and the chief secretary review the issue price and fix it at Rs8,000 per 100kg. They also urged the government to take notice of the rise in market prices, recover hoarded wheat and release it in the market to bring prices down.

They said this would provide substantial relief to consumers, who were already bearing high fuel costs, and warned that rising wheat prices could cause unrest among them.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2026