Over-pricing during Ramazan

Every year, prior to and at the start of Ramazan, district authorities around Pakistan make tall claims and some efforts to keep a check on prices and quality of food items. For a few days, inspections are made, some shopkeepers are fined, a few also sent to judicial lock-up for a day but then it is back to business as usual. The inspections become good photo-ops for the ministers and commissioners but the masses get no real relief and have to live through the month with hiked prices of almost all kitchen items.

Provincial authorities also set up ‘sastaa bazaars’ where essential food items are sold at controlled prices, but the stuff sold in such bazaars is often substandard. For many traders, these bazaars also serve as a means to clear their old stocks.

All these inspections, raids and ‘sasta bazaars’ have proven to be stopgap measures. They do not solve the problem. The fine imposed on shopkeepers and stall-holders is passed on to consumers. In many instances, shopkeepers willingly pay the fine, which is a fraction of their profits, and carry on the business. Market committees and trade bodies are always there to protect shopkeepers in case the authorities get tough with them. Nominal fines are acceptable and a win-win for both, traders and the administration.

The Price Control and Prevention of Profiteering and Hoarding Act empowers district authorities to fix prices of essential commodities and try violators summarily. Rate lists are issued throughout the year but no organised effort is made to implement them. Many people complain that shopkeepers and stall-holders flatly refuse to sell food items according to official rate lists. Once in a blue moon, a magistrate visits the market to ‘ensure’ implementation of official rate lists. This alone is not enough.

The act also says that there will be a federal price control council headed by the prime minister and provincial price control councils headed by chief ministers of the provinces. These councils, the law says, would review prices of essential commodities prevailing in the markets as well as price lists issued by the authorities. But that’s what the law says. On the ground, nobody knows when and where the federal price control council meets.

The question is why no serious and organised effort is being made to control profiteering and hoarding. Why doesn’t public welfare ever grab the attention of our rulers and policymakers?

It is high time the governments put in place a proper mechanism to check profiteering and hoarding, not only during Ramazan but throughout the year.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2016.