The price of one kilogramme of flour has risen from Rs 70 to Rs 75 across the country as the crisis of wheat worsens. The government is not being able to curb the price of flour.
Karachi utility stores have placed conditions on the sale of flour at government-set prices. You now also need to buy other commodities from the store to get the flour at cheaper rates.
In Lahore, it now costs Rs6 more than 1 kg of flour previously sold for Rs70.
Nonetheless, Punjab’s ministers have said fine flour sellers will also be forced to sell the product at government-fixed rates.
“In Lahore and Faisalabad, fine flour will be sold at Rs45, while Multan will sell the staple food item for Rs42,” said Punjab Minister for Industries and Commerce Aslam Iqbal.
“The government will not succumb to the pressures of flour mill owners or the mafia,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s negotiations with nanbais were successful.
Flour prices in Quetta remain the same. A bag of 20 kg of flour will cost Rs1,300, Rs100 more than its previous price.
Consumers are forced to buy wheat at higher prices, due to the current wheat crisis. The situation is blamed more on government mismanagement than on a real wheat shortage.