Re: Saudi Govt expects 30% rise in food prices
Do saudis have alot of times ont heir hands too??
People waiting 3 days for flour outside utility stores
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/images/2008/01/07/20080107_e08.jpg
*Staff Report *
KARACHI: Many people in the city have been waiting in lines for three days to buy flour which is being sold for Rs 16 per kg in under-stocked utility stores and Rs 35 in the open market.
Lines snaked outside utility stores, in Sunday Bazaar and some big private stores which all face a shortage of flour. “The workers at the utility store say that the flour is finished and I should come back tomorrow,” said a very tired and worried Janat Bibi, who was standing in line outside a utility store in Pakistan Quarters on Manghopir Road. She has been there to buy flour for the past three days but with no luck.
Garden shoe market resident Habib Ahmed complained at the price differences between the open market and utility stores. “That is why there is such a long line up at the utility stores. To buy 10 kg of flour for Rs 160, we have to wait hours and our other work suffers.” Habib appealed to the government to increase the supply of flour to utility stores.
Utility store salesman Iqbal said that they were running out of more than 500 bags of 10 kg flour in a few hours each day. “When we tell the people that the flour is finished and they should come back tomorrow, they stay put, causing us and other customers a great problem.”
Old Golimar resident Akber Baloch said, “I joined this lineup early afternoon and now it is evening and I still haven’t bought any flour. It seems like I will have to come back tomorrow.” Akber had his reasons for blaming the government for the shortage of flour and said, “The government is trying to divert the attention of the public from Benazir’s death by creating different issues such as the shortage of flour and load shedding.”
The sales staff at the utility store said that the supply of flour they get is very small compared to the number of customers and this is why people have to wait so long and even go home empty handed.
An atta chakki shopkeeper at Lasbela Chowk on Nishtar Road Haji Ali said that on Saturday the wholesale market price of an 80 kg bag of No. 1 wheat went up by Rs 100 while the price of a No. 2 100 kg bag of wheat went up by Rs 50. Because of this an 80 kg bag of No. 1 wheat now costs Rs 2,200 while a 100 kg bag of No. 2 wheat cost Rs 2,150.
The price of flour has increased subsequently. The 10 kg bag of No. 2.5 flour went up from Rs 235 to Rs 245, while a bag of fine atta now cost Rs 265 instead of Rs 255.
Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) Chairman Chaudry Ansar Javed said, “After Eid-ul-Adha the Punjab government put a ban on the movement of wheat from one province to another because of which wheat did not reach Karachi. On the other hand, the Government of Sindh’s Food Department did not increase the weekly quota for the flour mills because of which the production of flour was not sufficient.” Javed said that if the government of Sindh increases the quota for flour mills, the shortage of flour in Karachi will decrease dramatically.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\01\07\story_7-1-2008_pg12_7
i finally found out wht loadshedding means..
achi achi bataain kerni chahiye..
