Policies of food authorities fanning crisis.

The flour mill owners have warned of a flour crisis engulfing the region and affecting
millions due to the wrong policies of the Food Department. 
 
Flour millers have planned to stop the supply of flour to the market due to the conditions
imposed by the Food Department, which will deprive the masses of affordable flour. 
 
In a statement today, the Pakistan Flour Mills Association said that all the responsibility
for this crisis will be on the policies imposed by the Food Department. 
 
Flour mills cannot function because of undue interference and restrictions of the
concerned authorities, which should be noted, the statement said. 
 
The Food Department has abolished the subsidy and is now buying wheat at Rs 3,900 per
40 kg and selling it at Rs 4,700 per 40 kg.
 
Now, the 130 flour mills of the Rawalpindi region are being pressurized to buy twenty-
five percent of the wheat from far-flung districts of Punjab, including Bhakkar, Jhang,
Muzaffargarh, and Bahawalpur. 
 
The Flour Mills Association further said that buying wheat from these districts and
delivering it to flour mills in Rawalpindi and Islamabad costs up to five hundred rupees
per 100 kg due to high transportation costs.
 
However, the Food Department insists that after buying wheat from remote areas of
Punjab and transporting it to Rawalpindi Division, it must be sold at the official rate of
Rs 1374 per 10 kg, which is not feasible. 
 
Earlier, flour mills in Rawalpindi and Islamabad used to get wheat from local godowns.
The policy has changed, which is unacceptable to flour millers as it is not feasible and
amounts to depriving the masses of affordable staples. 
The association of flour mills said that wheat was not being supplied as per their demand,
and if the situation remained the same, the prices would jump in the local market, adding
to the trouble of the masses.
 
Currently, flour mills are being supplied with very substandard wheat, which is smelly,
has high moisture, and includes dirt, by the concerned department. The statement said
this wheat is unfit for human consumption.