MINISTER for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz has said that the Government was working on a mechanism to ensure uniform prices of wheat throughout the country. Briefing media on the decisions taken by Prime Minister Imran Khan during a meeting of the Price Control Committee, he asserted that come what may, the prices of essential commodities would be brought down significantly and the back of hoarders and profiteers be broken as this is duty and moral responsibility of the Government.
The Government is, no doubt, focused on the issue of rising inflation and this is evident from the fact that the Prime Minister was holding almost weekly meetings on the issue with directions to the authorities concerned to address the challenge in a holistic manner. The Government is also on the right track as far as its findings about hoarding and smuggling of wheat and sugar are concerned and this was again confirmed by remarks of the Minister that a probe is underway to find out sudden decline in stocks of sugar in Punjab as prices are being manipulated through artificial shortages. However, one finds it difficult to digest the price data presented in the high level meeting about prices of wheat flour in different parts of the country and the proposals being considered for uniformity in pricing and provision of targeted subsidy to mitigate impact of the inflation on the poorer segments of the society. According to official data, the price of a 20kg bag of flour in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was between Rs900 to Rs1150 while in Punjab the price of a 20kg bag of flour is Rs860 which is quite contrary to the ground situation.
The flour bag of Rs 860 or 900 cannot be consumed by human beings without serious risks to their health because of its poor quality/adulteration while the flour worth eating is available @ Rs 64 or 65 a kilo ie Rs 1280 for a 20 kg bag and Rs 1600 for 25 kg bag. It would be wrong to blame Sindh as prices in other parts of the country are also unjustifiably high and it is responsibility of the authorities concerned to check smuggling if it is taking place. People demand a genuine reduction in prices and not uniform prices and this should be done without wastage of further time in view of grave impact of sharp hike in prices of staple food. Incomes of all families including middle class and fixed income groups have squeezed due to price-hike and, therefore, subsidy to a fraction of the population would not be a satisfactory solution of the crisis.
