In Pakistan’s Punjab, the free flour scheme has become another name for trouble and risk for the poor. The scheme has perhaps for the first time exposed the true scale of poverty in the province. Thousands of people in Pakistan, especially women, stand in long queues for hours just for 10 kilos of flour. The same flour was available for Rs 1156 till Ramzan.
According to an article in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, Majeed Abdullah, who works in a mill in Lahore, says, “Violence at distribution centers will not end.” He said, ‘The free flour distribution scheme will run for a month but poverty is permanent. Everyone wants to get maximum profit till the scheme runs.
Those who register know they will get dough, even if it is only for a short period of time. But those who do not have registration want to take advantage of the opportunity by creating ruckus. They create a stampede and then run away with a packet of flour.
a packet of flour dominates all
According to the report, sociologist Tariq Suleman says, “Thousands of people gather every day, stand in line for hours at the cost of their social reputation, risk violence, sometimes even lose their lives, yet They try this opportunity every day. At that time, a packet of free flour for hundreds of thousands of people in every city of the province prevailed over everything else.
Free flour is a threat to the whole society
According to Dawn, Farooq Tariq, a leader of the Pakistan Workers’ Party, says, ‘We all knew that poverty is there and it lives on, but the level of misery revealed by this flour distribution scheme is alarming. He warned, ‘Punjab says it has distributed around 30 lakh gunny bags so far. But the queues are getting longer day by day. Where are these people coming from?
People like us have been warning about the catastrophe but its scale is huge and if ignored it can set our entire society on fire.
question the plan
Poverty in Pakistan is such that the elderly, women and children are forced to take every risk for flour. Media reports are giving information about scuffle at different distribution centers. The scuffle turns into a fight and a stampede ensues, after which people loot trucks carrying flour.
Free flour can become a big reason for the ruin of whole Pakistan, so Pakistan needs to give employment opportunities to its people without promoting terrorism, so that Pakistan can be free from poverty.