KARACHI: The Flour Mills Association of Sindh on Friday called off its strike after successful negotiations with the provincial government.
Yesterday (Thursday) The association had threatened to halt the supply of flour, alleging that the provincial government was preventing the shipment of wheat to flour mills. The government was not supplying wheat as per the official quota to the mills and was also not allowing the mills to buy wheat from traders.
The association claimed that there were 13 check posts on the routes coming from rural Sindh to Karachi where officials were charging bribes between Rs100,000 to Rs300000 per truck to allow wheat to pass.
However, after holding successful talks with Provincial Food Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla, the Flour Mills Association announced to call off the strike. Wheat will now be provided to flour mills at a price of Rs11,500 per hundred kg, and the Food Department will continue to procure wheat at the official level.
However, the inter-district transfer of wheat will remain prohibited until the government wheat procurement target is met.