ISLAMABAD, 17 January, 2020: Flaying the government over increased prices of wheat, PPP Parliamentary Leader in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman said “The prices of flour and wheat have risen across the country. This is not some delicacy we are talking about – these are staples for our population, especially the lower income groups. How can this government be so insensitive? Wheat is being sold at Rs. 2,000 per maund in the open market from Rs. 1,900 previously. The government must immediately take notice of this”.
“After the recent surge of Rs. 7/kg in the price of wheat, flour price in Punjab has been jacked up by Rs.4 taking its selling rate to Rs. 64/kg. The poor are already paying through the nose for tomatoes and pulses and now we have another essential item like flour added to the list. It won’t be surprising if water was the next in line to become a luxurious commodity that few can afford. The government has been up to nothing but dropping one inflation bomb after the other on the people, including its own voters. These 18 months of PTI-led government have only bred disillusionment amongst the people,” Rehman added”.
She concluded saying, “The government seems to have blindfolded itself before entering the IMF programme. All those gas, power and petrol price hikes it was generously burdening the consumers with have now ended up affecting their ability to afford two meals a day. This is all due to a lack of stability and pragmatism in the government’s economic policy and rising costs of inputs. Expectedly, they cause a domino effect, the high costs are passed on to others in the chain and the ultimate victim is the poor man on the street.”
