QUETTA: Balochistan’s flour mills owners have blamed the provincial government for the ongoing flour crisis in the province, alleging that the food department failed to procure wheat according the requirement for this year.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) Balochistan chapter representatives Badaruddin Kakar, Asmatullah Kakar and Abdul Wahid Bareech said there was a huge gap between the demand and supply which created the crisis.

They said flour mill owners were being blamed for the crisis, while in reality, the provincial government has imposed an inter-provincial and inter-district ban on the transportation of wheat during the harvesting season.

They claimed the food department failed to procure one million bags of wheat in Nasirabad division as decided by the provincial cabinet.

Food dept failed to procure 1m bags of wheat in Nasirabad division, millers say

Moreover, the authorities did not allow flour millers to purchase wheat from other areas and stopped trucks carrying wheat from other provinces, they said.

They added that the prime minister and Balochistan chief minister have issued orders to allow transportation of wheat but the law enforcement agencies continued to stop the vehicles.

This attitude would exacerbate the crisis and increase flour prices in the province, they added.

They rejected the government’s ‘propaganda’ against the flour millers, saying that the release of mere 300 bags of wheat per day by the government to the millers was not enough to meet the needs of the 3.5million people of Quetta.

The government has passed directives to procure wheat from Pakistan Agricultural Storage & Services Corporation (Passco) but the food department has yet to start the procurement, they alleged.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2022