The chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are competing with each other to provide affordable bread (known as Sasti Roti) to their respective provinces.
This competition cum scuffle between both the CMs is surely benefiting the public in both of these provinces. Yet, the Chief Ministers of Baluchistan and Sindh are staying away from this race as their priorities look different as per public opinion.
The prices of ‘Roti’ and ‘Nan’ have been reduced in Punjab and KP to Rs. 16 and Rs. 20 respectively from Rs. 20 to 25. It has brought relief to consumers, while Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari praised this decision and attributed it to the effective governance model of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.
The Chief Minister of KP, Ali Amin Gandapur, is criticizing the Chief Minister of Punjab for falsely claiming to provide affordable bread to the people. He thinks that the Punjab government can no longer deceive the people by making such claims. He believes that it is not in the control of the Punjab CM to provide Roti (bread) at lower prices, but he knows how to implement the necessary measures to make it possible. He has even gone so far as to say that he would resign from his position if he failed to provide affordable bread to the people of KP. The CM is fully committed to ensuring that people have access to affordable bread.
It is interesting that two days earlier Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)’s leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Omar Ayub declared this step of the Punjab government as a foolish act stating that the provision of Roti could never be possible at the said rates as the commodity even doesn’t cast to the sellers at this rate. He also said that the media could visit him in any village or town in the Punjab province to inquire about anyone selling the commodity that costs them more than Rs.18 and identify the prices of flour.
It’s worth noting that more than 10,000 raids have been carried out in Punjab against tandoor owners who failed to follow the government’s directives to lower the price of Roti. As a result, several individuals were arrested and fined. Shafique Qureshi, the president of the Rawalpindi Nanbai Association, was apprehended for allegedly instigating tandoor owners to resist the mandated reduction in Roti prices.
He was arrested under the 16 MPO regulation, which was imposed to enforce the government’s commitment to price control regulations. Meanwhile, Nanbai Associations in Punjab have given five days to the government to stop this campaign of sasti roti claiming that the price of a 10 Kg flour bag was up to Rs. 1600. Giving the ultimatum of five days, they have announced countrywide shutter-down strikes.
However, the reduction in ‘Roti’ and ‘Naan’ prices both in Punjab and KP has brought relief to consumers and they are very happy stating that though it was a small step of the government toward facilitating the consumers even then it is commendable. They say that the government must take similar steps in controlling and lowering the prices of several other daily-use commodities such as sugar, pulses, vegetables, cooking oil, and ghee. They demanded that a similar force be required over electricity and gas bills.
In the meantime, it is important to highlight here that the governments of both the said provinces have at least taken this step, while nothing similar has yet been started in the Sindh and Baluchistan provinces. The public of both of these provinces is waiting for perhaps someone will compel those governments to take such a step. It is equally significant to know that Sindh is the province where wheat worth Rs 17 billion has so far been stolen from 2023 to till present and from government where-houses and stores.
As far as the province of Punjab is concerned, hopefully, its government will not be repeating the past when a report of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) unearthed a major fiscal scam in the Sasti Roti Scheme. That report revealed that Mr. Shehbaz Sharif’s government in Punjab took loans worth Rs 25 billion from various commercial banks at a 15 percent mark-up in 2009-2010 for making payments to some flour mills. When the time came for the return of those loans, the government realized that it had no funds left in the exchequer for the purpose. The AGP revealed that 30 billion rupees were spent on the sasti roti Scheme in one fiscal year. The scheme was closed after wide-scale misappropriations were reported.
(Senior journalist Rana Kashif has authored this article)
