The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Flour Mills Association has announced that all flour mills in the province will be closed on May 8th and 9th due to the ban on the delivery of wheat and flour from Punjab.
During a press conference at Peshawar Press Club, Haji Muhammad Iqbal, Chairman of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Flour Mills Association, stated that the Punjab government has used smuggling as an excuse for supplying wheat and flour to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has resulted in the ban of delivery. The protest has been extended due to the continuous increase in flour prices in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Officials of the association said that over the past year, the price of a 20 kg bag of flour has increased by Rs. 1500, and the current price of 20 kg of flour in the province has reached Rs. 3500. They also mentioned that a bag of flour in Punjab is sold for Rs. 10,000, while in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa it costs Rs. 14,000.
A petition was filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan in October 2022 against the illegal actions of the Punjab government and the ban on the delivery of flour and wheat. However, the petition has not yet been scheduled for a hearing.
The Chairman demanded that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the Chief Minister of Punjab take measures to lift the ban on the delivery of flour to save the flour mills industry of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from destruction.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s annual requirement for wheat is 500,0000 tons, and its production is 800,000 tons, while Punjab contributes 80% of Pakistan’s total wheat production. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa consumes 10,000 tons of wheat daily, of which 5,000 tons are supplied by Punjab. Due to the ban on the delivery of flour, the province is currently facing a shortage of wheat and flour.
According to officials of the food department, the problems faced in the delivery of flour from Punjab are being resolved.
