K-P CM orders crackdown on profiteering and stockpiling of key goods.

PESHAWAR (Channel News Pakistan) : Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi has directed the Food Department to combat profiteering and hoarding of essential commodities. He emphasizes the importance of ensuring food availability at officially notified prices across the province to benefit the public.
On Saturday, the Chief Minister presided over an important Food Department meeting at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, emphasizing the importance of expanding field visits and inspections to promote public facilitation and market monitoring.

He also asked the department to develop a comprehensive strategy for achieving self-sufficiency in food grains, notably wheat, in light of the province’s expanding population and demand.Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Muhammad Sohail Afridi has directed the Food Department to combat profiteering and hoarding of essential commodities. He emphasizes the importance of ensuring food availability at officially notified prices across the province to benefit the public.
On Saturday, the Chief Minister presided over an important Food Department meeting at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, emphasizing the importance of expanding field visits and inspections to promote public facilitation and market monitoring.

He also asked the department to develop a comprehensive strategy for achieving self-sufficiency in food grains, notably wheat, in light of the province’s expanding population and demand.

The chief minister also directed authorities to take proactive steps to increase wheat storage capacity in the province, emphasizing the need of using modern technology and international best practices to reduce post-harvest losses and maintain food security.

The group was updated on the current wheat supply and demand situation in K-P. Officials stated that the province’s yearly wheat need is 5.3 million metric tons, with just 1.4 million metric tons produced domestically and the rest 3.9 million metric tons sourced from neighboring provinces to fulfill consumption needs.

The committee was also informed that the Food Directorate had undertaken 186,312 inspections of food-related enterprises throughout the province over the previous six months. As a consequence of these inspections, 8,802 stores were challaned, with offenders fined Rs31.408 million.

Officials briefed the chief minister on the Food Safety and Halal Food Authority’s performance, reporting that 86,817 inspections were completed between January and December. During this time, 403,191 kilos and liters of dangerous and substandard food were seized and disposed of, with fines of Rs84.63 million issued.

In addition, mobile food testing laboratories tested 14,213 food samples within the same time period, with 10,139 passing and 4,074 being found unsuitable. The Central Food Testing Laboratory evaluated 2,812 samples, with 2,074 passing and 738 failing quality criteria.