Flour price up by Rs50 per 20kg bag

LAHORE:Mill owners on Tuesday jacked up wheat flour price by Rs50 to Rs1,150 per 20kg bag. A flour mill owner said that the latest increase in flour price is due to rise in petrol and electricity prices. Pakistan Flour Mills Association Punjab Branch Chairman Tahir Hanif Malik in a statement said that increase in electricity tariff, petroleum products price and escalation of packing materials cost forced millers to adjust flour price. Thus, an increase of Rs50 per 20kg bag of flour becomes inevitable. He added that the government should immediately issue a formal notification of increase in flour prices.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Punjab Food Department forwarded a summary for an increase in grinding charges to the provincial cabinet for approval. Under the proposal, the grinding rates may be revised upward from Rs400 to Rs600 per 100kg.

rotten eggs: Punjab Food Authority (PFA) sealed a bakery for using rotten eggs in baking and other dirty edibles here Tuesday.

Officials said the operation was carried out on the instructions of PFA DG in Chota Sanda area. They said the PFA team confiscated 2,800 rotten eggs being used in baking and other unhealthy edibles from the bakery after which it was sealed.

Food Authority DG said insect infestation, substandard storage and smelly environment was also found at the bakery. According to PFA rules, use of rotten eggs in the making of any product was a serious crime, DG said and added that the use of substandard oil, eggs and bright colours in bakery items can lead to many diseases.

family planning services: The Population Council, on Tuesday, arranged a multi-stakeholder dialogue to enhance family planning services through private sector in Punjab and presented a model framework for engaging the private sector.

Private medical practitioners have a huge potential to expand access and over 100,000 physicians can be tapped, spread across the country in urban and rural areas. Majority (70%) of physicians is male and can motivate and guide men to take family planning services. The meeting brought together representatives of the Population Welfare Department Punjab, Primary & Secondary Healthcare Department Punjab, Punjab Healthcare Commission, Services Institute of Medical Sciences, Pakistan Academy of Family Physicians-Doctors con, Pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders.

The meeting was part of Population Council’s efforts to support the implementation of CCI recommendation of ensuring universal access to family planning/reproductive health at the federal and provincial levels. The recommendation emphasises the need for universal access to family planning and reproductive health services and specifically mentions all general registered private sector practitioners and hospitals to provide family planning counseling, information, and services to male & female clients.

Dr Afshan Tahir, Dr Naila Altaf, Dr Ayaz Baloch, Dr Mushtaq Suleri, Dr Khalilur Rehman, Dr Aftab Iqbal Shaikh and Dr Saima Zubair also spoke during the meeting.