IN the backdrop of soaring inflation, which has made lives of people miserable, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has done well by conceiving and approving a tangible measure to help mitigate woes of at least poorest of the poor. He has announced to provide wheat-flour free of cost to poors under “Ramazan Package”. A meeting chaired by him in Islamabad decided that that free flour would be provided to underprivileged people of Punjab in the first phase while federal government would provide all-out support to provinces to provide relief to people under the Ramazan package on the pattern of Punjab.
Wheat flour is the staple food of people of Pakistan yet its prices have multiplied over last few months as the commodity is being sold at Rs. 150 to 160 a kilogram by private sector. It was widely reported that wheat mafia without any justification jacked up prices as neither there was any shortage of the commodity in the country nor farmer got benefit of unprecedented increase. The prices should, therefore, have been reversed with effective intervention of the government but that did not happen and now new price structure is a fait accompli after Punjab Government increased the minimum wheat procurement price to the highest level of Rs 3,900/40kg from last year’s price of Rs 2,200/40kg bringing it up to the market level.
Punjab government move came in the wake of a similar decision taken by Sindh government, which increased wheat support price to all time high of Rs 4,000 per 40 kilogram. This being so, there is no hope of a price reversal and therefore, decision to provide wheat flour to poor under Ramazan Package is a welcome move as it would offer some sort of solace to disadvantaged people. The decision is reminiscent of the famous ‘Sasti Roti’ scheme introduced by Mian Shehbaz Sharif when he was Chief Minister of Punjab, which was unnecessarily criticised by his political opponents. Prices of almost all items of daily use are already high and these usually go up further in the month of Ramazan because of exploitative tactics by some sections of business community. We hope, apart from measures like ‘Sasta Bazaars’, government would activate its administrative machinery to safeguard interests of the people.
