MIRPURKHAS - Flour crisis continues to persist in the city and its outskirts as the commodity is still being sold at prices ranging between Rs65 and Rs70 per kilogramme.
Same is the situation in other towns of the district, including Mirwah Gorchani, Digri, Jhuddo, Naokot, Tandojan Muhammad, Jhilori, Phuladyoon, Hingorno, Sindhri, and Kot Ghulam Muhammad, Khan, despite food department claims of providing subsidized wheat to chaki and flour mills.
Reports say that due to shortage of wheat around 200 chakies, out of total 300, remain closed in the city while the remaining chaki owners and shopkeepers were selling flour at rates higher than the official rate.
Office-bearers of Chaki Association Mirpurkhas Muhammad Asif, Rafi Malak, Abdul Haq, Rasheed Abbasi, Liaqat Qureshi, Muhammad Younus and others told this scribe that district food department had handed them 9 bags of subsidized wheat per chaki for two weeks, but asked to lift the wheat bags from the food department godown Khairpur as wheat was not available in the godowns of Mirpurkhas district.
They further said that they went there and stayed there for a week, waiting for the wheat bags as there was a huge rush of flour mills and chaki owners from other districts of the province.
However, they added, they were denied wheat bags after a week, and were told to get wheat bags from Karachi’s godown. They lamented that the chaki owners were buying wheat from local market at higher rates, and after grinding selling flour at higher rates.
They urged the government to provide them subsidized wheat bags in Mirpurkhas instead of upper Sindh and Karachi.