In the small industrial town of Daska in Punjab province, people crowd around a tandoor (clay oven) in the market as the sun begins to set.
It is about an hour before iftar, when the fast is broken during Ramadan, and many residents are lining up to buy roti (flattened wheat bread), the staple in most homes.
But the queue is long and tempers flare. "My home is about a 30 minute ride on my bicycle. I need to collect eight rotis and get there in time for iftar," says Amjad Khan, who works at a shop selling electric fans.
"Everyone is here because the roti is sold at Rs2 [about US$0.02] a piece. Elsewhere it is Rs5 [$0.06] or more. That means a big saving each day when I buy for my family of five, even though the other tandoors are much nearer to my home," Khan said.
The roadside oven selling cheap bread has been set up under a scheme initiated by the Punjab government in response to food price inflation, which, in August, according to the consumer price index of the Federal Bureau of Statistics, rose above 34 percent.
The steep increase from less than 7 percent in the same month last year has put even basic food items beyond the reach of most people.
"We go to bed hungry each night, because now we must make do on half a roti at each meal, whereas previously we had eaten at least two," said Surriya Bibi, 40, a washerwoman, who is bringing up two teenage daughters. Her husband abandoned the family five years ago.
 Photo: Kamila Hyat/IRIN  |
| Rotis are baked in a traditional roadside oven |
"We have over 1,000 such ovens running in Lahore and more in other districts. Anyone can come and see that they are offering roti at a low price," Pervaiz Rashid, special assistant to Punjab chief minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, said.
Following the initial success of the scheme, Sharif has asked government officials to "accept the challenge of continuing to provide bread at the same price even after Ramadan".
After a stand-off with flour millers this month, when it seized control of 400 mills in the province to ensure the supply of wheat flour was streamlined, the Punjab government has also been able to improve flour supplies, at a fixed rate of Rs300 per 20kg. More ovens, selling fresh bread at cheaper rates, are also being set up.
Desperation
The initiative has been welcomed at a time when philanthropists who offer free food to the poor during Ramadan each year have seen riots breaking out as hordes of people clamour for the bread, rice and other items being distributed.
 Photo: Kamila Hyat/IRIN |
| The government initiative offering cheaper 'roti' has proved popular |
"We have never before accepted charity, but now we must. I don't know how we will manage after Ramadan when people give less than they do during this month," Aneela Bibi, 30, told IRIN as she stood outside a bungalow awaiting daily handouts. She said her husband was jobless and she was forced to provide for her family on Rs4,000 ($53) a month, earned as a cleaner at a small shop.
But while the government initiative has helped some, there are also complaints. "The flour bags sold at Rs300 ($4) contain such poor quality flour it is difficult to consume it," said Naveed Anwar, 30, outside a government-run utility store.
There have also been complaints about the quality of roti sold at the cheap ovens.
However, the scheme helps feed at least some of the hungry - and with food prices, fuelled by increases in transport costs, continuing to rise almost daily, this, as Muhammad Aslam, 60, said, "is in itself a huge blessing".
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
