Senior Food Minister Abdul Aleem Khan said that flour mills would be allowed for 7 days wheat storage instead of 72 hours. He said that permission in this regard was being given but the flour mills would declare their stocks.
He was talking to a 10-member delegation of Flour Mills Association who called on him on Tuesday and announced to end the strike on assurance that their concerns would be allayed. Central Chairman Asim Raza and Provincial President Abdul Rauf Mukhtar who were heading the delegation agreed that flour prices would not be increased till Eid-ul-Fitr and the district administration would not raid the flour mills while the Food Department would have access to these mills. Aleem Khan telephoned the chief secretary during the meeting and asked him to convey the new instructions up to the division and district level. Abdul Aleem Khan said that this year wheat was being bought but intends to create a new mechanism for the affairs of flour mills for which the concerned stakeholders should be on the same page.
He said that for this purpose a joint meeting of the Food Department and Flour Mills Association will be held immediately after Eid. The minister clarified that the government’s job should not be to procure raw materials but to regulate and facilitate flour mills. He said that the Punjab government spends huge amount on procurement of wheat while storing and re-shifting is another exercise.
He added that a new strategy would be worked out for the procurement of wheat and “bardana” in the coming years. He asked the officials of the Flour Mills Association to formulate their proposals in the light of which the next road map will be designed.
The meeting decided that after Eid, flour mills of KP will also be given wheat but KP Food Department would buy wheat in Punjab in collaboration with Punjab government.
Flour Mills Association Central Chairman Asim Raza, Provincial President Abdul Rauf Mukhtar, Mian Nadeem Nisar, Iftikhar Muttoo and Khurram Shehzad informed about the problems of flour mills in different districts. Liaquat Ali Khan, Mian Riaz, Hafiz Ahmed, Farrukh Shehzad and Mian Naseem also said that the situation has worsened in Sargodha, Multan, Gujrat and Kasur districts where flour mills did not have wheat for threshing.
The delegation thanked Abdul Aleem Khan who listened to their demands patiently and resolved them immediately.
