Pakistani citizens loot flour truck in Peshawar. Image courtesy: Twitter
Islamabad: In yet another video from Pakistan highlighting the plight of the crisis-hit citizens, hundreds of locals in Peshawar looted bags of wheat flour from trucks meant for the poor people under the Ramzan package.
In the video, Pakistani citizens can be seen sprinting behind a truck delivering free wheat flour, and later on the locals plundered the truck before it reached the distribution center.
Earlier, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had announced to allocate over PKR 19 billion for provision of free flour to poor people under the Ramzan package, Radio Pakistan reported.
Caretaker Provincial Minister for Food, Fazal Elahi informed that about 92 per cent population of the province will get benefit from this scheme.
He further noted that more than 247,000 metric tonnes of flour will be distributed among the deserving people during the month of Ramzan, adding 7,600 sale points will be established across the province for the same.
Ramzan package
On March 7, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced the Ramadan package for the people, in light of the intolerable inflation and severe economic crisis situation in the nation.
Meant for the country’s underprivileged classes, the package was described as a significant relief for the poor, Daily Times reported.
Sharif further stated that a comprehensive strategy will be made to supply flour to needy families.
Food inflation in Pakistan
The annual food inflation in cash-strapped Pakistan increased to 41.9 per cent in urban areas and 47 per cent in rural areas in the month of February. During the same period last year, these numbers stood at 14.3 per cent and 14.6 per cent, respectively.
According to Dawn, a rural family was forced to spend PKR 14,700 in February 2023 to buy the same amount of food that they had bought for PKR 10,000 in February 2022. On the other hand, the requirement was a little less — PKR 14,190 for an urban household.
The report further stated that the current situation in Islamabad may stay for a long period owing to supply shocks caused by 2022 floods, higher international commodity prices, Pakistani rupee’s depreciation and lack of administrative checks on retail prices amidst worsening political crisis. Besides these, other issues include hoarding of food commodities and smuggling of food items to neighbouring Afghanistan.
(With inputs from agencies)
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