Flour distribution sparks mad rush.

MARDAN: Despite the assignment of a secretary to each district, the distribution of free wheat flour remains chaotic across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), with dozens of people injured on Sunday as a result of a stampede during the distribution in Mardan district.

According to local residents, the distribution of flour began in the morning at the Mardan Sports Complex, but the slow pace of distribution quickly resulted in a stampede when police used baton to keep people in proper order.

“Dozens of people were injured during the stampede because the authorities and police failed to control the crowd,” a local resident said, adding that the stampede began when police fired shots into the air to control the mob that surrounded the flour trucks.

As a result, local residents blocked the main Nowshera-Mardan Road in order to protest the police brutality. They also threw stones at the main gate of the sports complex.

In the Tank district of K-P, dozens of women protested what they called clear favouritism on the part of the district administration in flour distribution.

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Since the beginning of Ramazn in K-P, five people have been killed in similar incidents.

On the first day of Ramazan, one person was killed and eight others were injured in a stampede for free flour in Charsadda.

Basic food prices have skyrocketed in recent months, with inflation nearing a 50-year high as the country grapples with a balance-of-payments crisis that has forced it back into talks with the International Monetary Fund.

“Nine people were trampled and taken to hospital, where one person died,” said Muhammad Arif, Charsadda’s police chief.

Hundreds of people gathered at the local market for the handouts, one of hundreds of distribution points set up by the government during Ramadan, according to Arif.

The scheme has registered millions of low-income families across the country.

A man died and four others were injured in a nearby district when a wall they were sitting on collapsed as crowds gathered for free flour.

The provincial government has assigned free flour distribution monitoring tasks to all administrative secretaries and directed them to ensure the availability of food items at the notified public rates.

On the orders of caretaker Chief Minister Azam Khan, administrative secretaries will monitor the prices and availability of flour and other edibles in local markets throughout the holy month of Ramazan in their respective districts, according to a notification issued here on Saturday.

The secretary of food will monitor Peshawar, the secretary of C&W Mardan, the secretary of excise and taxation Kohat and Karak, the secretary of irrigation Nowshera and Charsadda, and the secretary of auqaf Khyber and Mohmand.