PESHAWAR, May 03 (APP):Pakistan Flour Mills Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (PFMA-KP) on Wednesday urged the Prime Minister to take notice of ban on wheat transportation from Punjab to KP and other provinces.
Addressing a press conference here, chairman PFMA-KP Muhammad Iqbal said that under Article 151 of the constitution the ban on wheat transportation was unconstitutional, adding that the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers Punjab and KP should have to take notice of the issue and order removal of all the check posts of the police and other agencies set up by the Punjab Government to stop the transportation of wheat to other provinces.
He further called for steps to avert such ban on edible items especially on wheat in future and provide relief to KP people and flour mill industry.
He said that at present, there are abundant reserves of wheat in the province of Punjab and the Food department under its wheat procurement policy allowed flour mills of Punjab to purchase wheat, however due to ban on transportation of wheat to other provinces, the people are forced to purchase flour at the rate of Rs 3000 to 4000 per 20kg.
He said that PFMA-KP requests the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, the Governor KP Ghulam Ali, KP Chief Minister Azam Khan, KP Food Minister, Chief Secretary and the Food Department to allow KP flour mills to freely purchase wheat from the private market of Punjab so that the closed flour mill industry of KP could restart their operation and provide cheap and quality flour to the people of KP.
He urged the Prime Minister to announce a special relief package for KP flour mills so that the unemployed labourers could get back to their jobs
He deplored that a petition over the issue was filed in the Supreme Court of Pakistan in the month of August last year but despite the passage of 10 months, no hearing was conducted.
Iqbal said that the Chief Justice of Pakistan should have to take notice of the violation of Article 151 and fixed a date for a hearing on the petition of PFMA as soon as possible.
He said that the flour mills industry in the province is in dire straits due to economic crisis and militancy while on the other hand, the Punjab government has imposed on transportation of wheat to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, using the pretext of smuggling.
He said that the requirement of wheat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was 50 lakh tons per year, while the production of wheat in the province was six to eight lakh tons.
He said that there are 250 to 260 flour mills in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and due to ban on transportation of wheat from Punjab and non-availability of wheat, 70 percent flour mill industry of KP has been closed and thousands of workers have become jobless.