LUCKNOW: At least 45 districts in the state are facing a varying degree of shortage of daily use articles like flour, sugar, spices . This has come to fore in an exercise carried out by the UP commercial tax department in all districts to identify hurdles in the supply chain during the lockdown.The department contacted 2,484 wholesalers and manufacturers across the state to assess whether food items are available with them.On the brighter side, the findings show that about 89% of wholesalers and manufacturers contacted — 2,204 out of 2,484 — have sufficient stock of spices, dry fruits, flour, oil, pulses. Out of those contacted, 2,131 were wholesalers, while 353 were manufacturers. In Hamirpur, Bhadohi and Kannauj, traders have flagged the maximum shortage.Other cities where some shortage of stock has been observed include Lucknow where 18.42% traders claimed to have limited stock, Prayagraj 10%, Varanasi 12.5% and Ayodhya where 42.10% traders were facing shortage.The main reason for the shortage is non-availability of raw material, transport, difficulty in getting passes and shortage of labour. Commercial tax commissioner Amrita Soni has written to all zonal additional commissioners, asking them to take up matter with district magistrates. “In each district, senior officials should contact DMs and bring to their attention the problems in the supply chain that have been highlighted by the traders and wholesalers. Keep in touch with the main traders in your areas so that any problem coming up may be taken up with the administration from time to time,” she has said.Manufacturers claim to have the most problem with the stock of ‘aata’ and ‘maida’, followed by oil, rice and spices. The major reasons for the shortage of these articles cited by the manufacturers is non-availability of raw material, shortage of labour and difficulty in getting transport. As availability of flour is affected with manufacturers, wholesalers too have flagged off its shortage. They have also raised concerns with availability of oil, spices, sugar and milk powder.