Officials raid shops disguised as common men

District admin has managed to arrest 150 shopkeepers

PESHAWAR: Vendor selling food items at prices higher than those mentioned in the official list need to beware of their customers.

It could be a member of the district administration in the guise of a common man and the shopkeepers could find themselves behind bars for violating the official price list set by food authorities. “We were happy to learn of these secret raids,” Saeed Ahmed, 38, a resident of Faqirabad, told The Express Tribune on Friday.



The district administration of Peshawar is raiding the markets in the garb of customers to keep a check on the prices of commodities. They have also arrested those flouting the rules.

However, instead of keeping their strategy secret throughout Ramazan — which could have helped them arrest hundreds of shopkeepers — the district administration started uploading pictures on social media. Since many vendors are active on social media, even those who are unaware catch wind of the fact that a raid could be imminent. Nevertheless, they have not bothered to cut down steep prices.



“After they (district administration officials) uploaded the pictures on the first day, I knew this [strategy] would not work,” Ahmed added. “On one day, the district administration officials raid the markets, but on the very next shopkeepers go back to overcharging.”

And it goes on…

The district administration has managed to arrest at least 150 people selling food items at higher prices thus far in Ramazan. Nevertheless, shopkeepers have not eased up the prices. So far, many vegetable and fruit markets as well as bakeries have been raided, but once they leave, shopkeepers go back to their self-fixed prices.

When asked why the administration has not followed up after raiding thousands of restaurants and bakeries, Peshawar DC Riaz Mehsud admitted follow-up was not being done. But he assured officials would definitely try to take notice in future.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2016.