LAHORE: Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari claims that flour millers have reduced prices of each bag of 20kg by Rs80.

Speaking at a press conference along with Agriculture Minister Syed Ashiq Kirmani here on Thursday, she said the government approached the flour millers on reports of increase in atta price though the supply of wheat in the open market had been improved.

She said Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz took notice of the price hike and held a meeting in which sham data being fed by the food department to the provincial government was also exposed.

She said negotiations with the flour millers led to a cut in atta prices by Rs80 per 20kg bag.

Ms Bukhari said that four officials of the food department have also been suspended and removed from their posts for feeding wrong data to the authorities about wheat and atta prices.

Meanwhile, the food department has issued a notification on monitoring of inter-province movement of wheat and flour.

Food secretary Moazzam Iqbal Sipra says that e-permits will be required to transport wheat and atta out of Punjab and that the district food controllers have been empowered to issue e-permits. —Staff Reporter