Atta crisis continues to hit the headlines in the print as well as electronic media. Blame is being placed left and right on the Federal and Provincial Governments for their failure to ensure adequate wheat supplies to the flour mills and control atta prices in the open market. This may be so but only to some extent.
Besides the Federal and Provincial Government, former as well as the caretakers, others have also contributed in creating the atta crisis. While going through the newspapers, one sees photographs of people carrying more than one bag, each weighing 20 kilos, of atta on cycles, scooters or other modes of transport.
Why so? The people should better buy atta to meet domestic requirements for a month and avoid domestic hoarding. By buying more than one bag of 20 kilo atta, the people are not only depriving others of the commodity, but are also creating panic buying which cannot be appreciated and as a matter of fact should not be encouraged.
The print and electronic media should play a positive role in duly projecting what the Federal and Provincial Governments have to say about atta availability, supply and price and advise the prospective buyers not to create supply and demand issue which provides a golden opportunity to the millers and sellers to exploit the situation.
If the hoarding and black-marketing of atta or for that matter any other commodity by the vested commercial interests is an anti-people crime then the domestic hoarding should also be avoided. Surely, such domestic hoarding out of panic buying is done at others cost and also burdens the families budgets for a month.