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Centre urged not to allow new flour mills in Punjab

Zahir Babur

Lahore: Punjab has requested the federal government to disallow the setting up of new flour mills in the province.

Sources in the Food Department said here on Tuesday that the Punjab government has sent a summary to the Chief Executive's Secretariat urging the federal government not to issue any NOC or allow funds for setting up any new flour mills in the province.

They said during the visit of the CE to Lahore, the Punjab chief secretary had given him a detailed briefing at the Governor House after which the CE asked the provincial administration to send him a summary in this regard suggesting measures.

The administration, following the directives of the CE, had sent a comprehensive summary, sources added.

Secretariat sources claimed that the summary stated that the existing flour mills in the Punjab had a capacity of producing 55,000 tonnes of flour per day while the requirement of the province was 15,000 tonnes per day. There were 1,513 flour mills in the province, which were utilising 70,000 tonnes of wheat per day producing flour and other products.

The Food Department sources revealed that the Punjab had made this request because flour mill business was considered very profitable as the government provides wheat at subsidised rates on the condition that mills produce 85 percent flour and 15 percent other products like Suji, fine flour, etc.

Sources also told Business Recorder that many flour mills were not adhering to the percentage of produce specified by the government and were producing products other than flour in greater quantity as they were more profitable.

Flour smuggling, intra-provincial, was another factor in which mill owners earn a lot of profit illegally. That is why the government wanted to stop the setting up of more mills as the province did not need more flour mills.

The sources also claimed that the provincial administration had also chalked out a plan to curb intra-provincial smuggling of flour so as to overcome the possible wheat shortage in the province and ensure smooth supply of wheat throughout the year to the mills.

Sources averred that the Chief Executive's Secretariat would send this summary to the federal ministries of Finance and Food, which would submit their report to the Economic Coordination Committee for a final decision in this regard.