Provinces asked to expedite upcountry wheat transportation

Federal Food Committee (FFC) has asked provincial governments to expedite upcountry wheat transportation of imported wheat by engaging private road transport companies at TCP rates besides railways trains.
"All the provinces have been asked to co-ordinate upcountry transportation of imported wheat from Karachi to ensure food security," Chairman FFC Lieutenant General Farooq Ahmed Khan (Retd) told a media briefing here on Thursday. He said the FFC had asked the provinces for prompt unloading of wheat trains at the fixed destinations to save railways' time.
Farooq Ahmed Khan said that the situation regarding flour availability had improved and the current stocks of the commodity in the country were sufficient to meet its 36 days' needs. He said that the price of the flour had come down and except a few places in NWFP, the commodity was available at Rs 14.50 per kg all over the country.
He said that it came into FFC's notice that at some places, in NWFP flour was being sold at Rs 17 per kg adding that the NWFP Food Department had been directed to bring the price of the commodity in these areas at par with other parts of the country, he added.
He said that besides railways' trains hundreds of trucks were being used to transport the wheat to different areas of the country for ensuring fast delivery of the commodity.
He expressed the view that in order to provide standard flour to people at affordable rates there was a need that extraction of fines ie of 'maida' and 'suji' by the flour mills from government released wheat be rationalised.
He said that the FFC had asked provincial governments to submit their recommendations in this regard adding, "the NWFP government has already banned extraction of fines from government released wheat." The Chairman FFC said that all provincial governments had also been directed to lodge FIRs against those mills whose flour samples had been declared unfit for human consumption.
He said the government of Punjab had also been asked to reduce daily wheat release to flour mills from 21,000 tonnes to 15,000 tonnes if the stock position demanded so. He said the government of Sindh had been directed to increase the number of flour samples, being sent daily for laboratory tests so that the quality of flour could be ensured.
He said that the FFC had also forwarded recommendations to the provincial governments to send samples of other essential edibles to laboratories for test so that food quality could be maintained in the country. He informed that the sale of rice from USC outlets would be increased from 13,000 tonnes to 15,000 tonnes from March 8.