Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA), Punjab has warned that the country is likely to face "flour crisis" if the authorities concerned failed to refrain the provincial food department from impounding the vehicles, carrying flour bags, of the mill owners. PFMA Punjab chairman Habib-ur-Rehman Khan Leghari on Sunday told reporters that they have also written a letter to Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar by highlighting the illegality of the food department and the possible flour crisis in the country.
In another letter, the PFMA has also requested the chief minister to schedule a meeting with the Association so that they could brief him about the ground situation precisely, Leghari said, adding that a strong disbelief has been emerged between the millers and the food department.
On last Friday, the PFMA had demanded the transfer of incumbent provincial food secretary and threatened to stop the supply of flour in the market if their demand is not accepted in three days. The demand was jointly raised by PFMA Punjab Chairman Habib-ur-Rehman Leghari, Group leader PFMA Asim Raza Ahmad and others in an emergent meeting of the Association. During the meeting, Leghari claimed that wheat price had reached Rs 1450 per maund in the open market because of the tactics being adopted by the provincial food department.
Symbolizing solidarity with their chairman, the members of the association had also presented keys of their mills in the meeting. The members also demanded that the feed mills should be stopped from procurement of wheat and only flour mills should be allowed to buy wheat from the open market.
It may be reminded that the PFMA Punjab is protesting over the impounding of their wheat-carrying vehicles by the officials of the food department, saying the department had resorted to those immoral tactics to meet its procurement target assigned by the provincial government.
They were of the view that wheat with mills can also be considered as the stock of the food department as the department had to release wheat to mills from its stocks when mills exhaust their buying and the government start issuing wheat from the government stocks for smooth supplies of flour in the market.