PESHAWAR: Flour millers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa demanded the government to lift the restriction on movement of wheat quota from Punjab province and increase the wheat quota in order to prevent a flour crisis in the province.

Speaking at a news conference here on Monday, Chairman of Pakistan Flour Mills Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Haji Iqbal Ahmed Khan and group leader Muhammad Naeem Butt along with flour mills owners of the whole province attributed due to ban on movement of wheat quota from Punjab to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, coupled with present low wheat quota in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and severe shortage of flour, are the main reason behind the high flour rates in the province.

The flour millers said that the requirement of wheat quota in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is around 14,000 to 15,000 tons while mills were provided only 5,000 tons of wheat quota on daily basis, therefore, they said, it is quite insufficient to meet the growing needs of flour in the province. If the ban on wheat quota and flour from Punjab would be lifted, besides the government increasing the wheat quota, then the rates of flour in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be reduced by Rs500 to Rs600, the millers said.

The flour millers appealed to the federal, Punjab governments and Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif to immediately lift the ban on movement of wheat quota from Punjab province and increase the wheat quota.

Iqbal Ahmed Khan termed the wheat quota by the Punjab government as an illegal and immoral act. He added Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is dependent on Punjab with regard to wheat and flour requirements.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023