Islamabad 21 July: Gilgit-Baltistan facing a growing food crisis as local wheat reserves have run dry.
According to news reports the federal government has yet to deliver over 170,000 tonnes of subsidised wheat allocated under the Rs20 billion provision for the current fiscal year.
Residents of Gilgit-Baltistan depend almost entirely on federally subsidized wheat, but with no new deliveries and storage stocks fully depleted, households are struggling to afford costly market rates.
The situation has worsened following recent flash floods and heavy rains, which damaged critical roads and infrastructure. Officials reported that the last remaining wheat was distributed during the flooding emergency and has since run out.
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According to sources, despite budgetary approval for wheat procurement, not a single sack has arrived from the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (Passco) warehouses in Islamabad.
The delay is said to be due to frequent landslides on vital routes such as the Karakoram Highway and Baltistan Road, causing severe transport disruptions.
Even local redistribution efforts have stalled, with road blockages hampering the transfer of remaining stock from Gilgit warehouses to remote villages. Food department officials warn that if supply chains remain blocked and federal deliveries fail to arrive the region may soon face a full-scale food emergency.
