PESHAWAR: Flour prices are on the rise in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as the Punjab government has stopped supplying wheat and flour to the province.
At present, a 20kg flour bag is being sold for Rs1,900 while it is feared that the rate will soon reach to Rs2,200.
Sabir Bangash, provincial chairman of the Flour Mills Association, said that the supply of flour from Punjab was halted on July 7, due to which prices have steadily been rising in KP. He expressed fear that the crisis could escalate if the Punjab government did not lift the ban.
According to food department sources, the KP government has failed to provide the daily wheat quota to flour mills. They warned that the province might suffer a severe wheat crisis as there has been a 40 percent reduction in its wheat production this year.
They informed that the provincial government had started a “cheap flour scheme” for the people but the programme was shut down after providing subsidised flour for only a few days.
On the other hand, after continuous increase in the flour prices, bread bakers have increased the price of bread to Rs20 while the district administration, which had fixed the price of 135 grams of bread at Rs15 a few weeks ago, failed to keep a check on the market.
