Pakistan: Punjab province stops selling subsidised flour, commodity being sold in 'black'

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 4 : As the flour mills were found selling the commodity in black, Pakistan's Punjab government has stopped giving subsidies on 10-kilogram flour, The News International reported.

The Punjab government has issued a notification to stop supplying subsidised flour in the province. Over 95 per cent of people are rushing to purchase cheap flour but all went in vain as the shopkeepers with the full backing of the sitting government and flour mills were selling the commodity in 'black'.

And only 2-3 per cent of people registered with the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) are getting 'atta' free of cost from sale points.

After stopping the selling of subsidised flour, the Punjab government increased the rate of those subsidized bags of a 10-kilogram from Rs 648 to Rs 1150.

The District Food Department (DFD) Official Spokesman Muhammad Ali told 'The News International' that the Punjab government has stopped supplying 'Green Bag' atta for three days. The government has ended all kinds of subsidy on 'Atta', he claimed. The flour mill owners were purchasing wheat privately, therefore, selling 'Atta' according to their wish, he said. We are providing 'Atta' bags free of cost to people who were registered in BISP, he said.

As the 10-kilogram green bag 'atta' has vshed from open market shops, the shopkeepers have started selling the commodity at skyrocketing prices in 'black' at Rs 1600 to Rs 1650.

Meanwhile, the shopkeepers are selling the subsidised bags of flour in black, and hundreds of people, stand in long queues to collect the commodity and some of them are also losing their lives.

Reportedly, a flour stampede in Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa a week back, along with other reports of similar disarray and stampedes leading to death at government-led flour distribution points, when reports surfaced of at least nine women and three children dying in a stampede in Karachi's industrial hub - SITE area on Friday (March 31), according to The News International.

Pakistan's economy has been hit by multiple external triggers. Not only is it suffering the dents created by the Ukraine war, but it is also finding it difficult to make up for the economic losses caused by the 2022 floods. This has now created a humtarian crisis in an agrarian economy where people cannot afford food items.

And moreover, the country's rising inflation has had negative effects on the purchasing power of the professional class also, as reported The News International.