Utility stores without supply of edible items since August
CHITRAL: Supply of essential commodities to utility stores across Chitral remains suspended since Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) came to power in August last year.
There are 52 utility stores in the district providing essential items to the residents on subsidized rates.
An official in one of the outlets told ChitralToday that they used to receive four to five truckloads of wheat flour, ghee, cooking oil, sugar, daal and other edible items every week in the past. He said sometimes supply in the past got disrupted but was never suspended altogether.
However, since August last year the supply has been suspended. Now these stores are left with nothing except some bottles of shampoos, soaps etc.
Around 105 people are working in these outlets. As many as 95 of them are daily wagers and contractual workers.
With the suspension of supply, the future of these workers is also at stake. Similar is the situation with the workers of the utility stores across the country.
When the workers staged protest sit-ins a few months ago in Islamabad, the government assured them that their services would be regularized.
However, so far neither the government has resumed supply to the stores nor regularized the services of the workers.
Residents of Yarkhun, Brep, Mastuj and Laspur are affected the most as the utility stores were providing them the much needed kitchen items on subsidized rates.
It is not the business of the govt to run grocery shops. Communism collapsed because of these things. ZA Bhutto tried such gimmicks and destroyed the economy at the hands of his jialas.. Utility stores should be abolished to save govt money. All the benefit of utility stores is going to corrupt employees. General public never finds any quality item in the stores.