Chairman of Pakistan Flour Mills Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (PFMA-KP) chapter, Mohammad Anees Ashraf urged Federal Minister for Food Security and Research, Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan, to issue orders for wheat stock release under fixed quota and notify rates for local millers with a view to avoiding shortage of wheat.
Expressing his fears about shortage of wheat in KP, he said Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Services Co-operation (Passco) should release 200,000 metric tons of wheat as per rates fixed by Food Department of Punjab to Pakistan Flour Mills Association, for local millers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
PFMA-KP Chairman said local millers were directly procuring wheat from open market to continue their businesses. “Now there is also shortage of wheat stock in the open market, due to which millers are facing numerous difficulties in procurement,” he added. The PFMA provincial chairman said the wheat stock being available with Passco at its near godowns; therefore, it should ensure the release of wheat as per fixed quota to KP millers.
He claimed that KP Food department had made release of only 25 percent of wheat to local flour millers on a daily basis, due to which flour shortage occurred in the province. Owing to the negligence of the last caretaker government, he said that provincial exchequer had suffered losses of Rs 4 billion on account of wheat subsidy.
