Prices of vegetables, essentials soar ahead of Eid

Vendors are fleecing citizens but no govt functionary is available to regulate prices

LAHORE: In the absence of an efficient and effective price control regime, profiteering is on the rise in the provincial capital ahead of Eidul Azha. Greengrocers have jacked up prices of most essential commodities used in traditional Eid dishes.

A survey of weekly Sunday Bazaars shows that prices of most seasonal vegetables, like tomato, onion, ginger, garlic, cucumber, bitter gourd, spinach, lemon, green chilli, capsicum, cabbage and carrot, have witnessed a steep increase during past seven days. Vendors in weekly makeshift bazaars are fleecing common citizens, but no government functionary is available to regulate prices.



Speaking to The Express Tribune, a shopper, Muhammad Hafeez, said: “On the pretext of high demand and limited supply, greengrocers increase the prices ahead of Eid every year. They are playing the same trick for the past many decades. It is the sheer negligence of the government and price control authorities who have failed to formulate a permanent mechanism of price control.”

A shopper in Township Model Bazaar, Fatima Noor, complained that vendors were selling substandard or mixed varieties of onion, tomato and other commodities at the premium price. “We can find better quality products in open market even at lower rates. I am unable to understand what the use of these weekly makeshift markets is, if the government cannot regulate price and quality. It seems that the government provides an opportunity to these vendors to fleece citizens during festive season by giving them free hand,” he maintained.

Similar complaints were made by several other shoppers, but market committee officials deputed in weekly Sunday bazaars have no answer of these common public complaints.

A market committee official in Township Model Bazaar said they always try to ensure availability of better quality products in Sunday bazaars. Generally, quality products are sold in just a couple of hours in the morning leaving behind low-quality stuff. “We have highlighted this situation to our higher authorities on numerous occasions but in vain. Mostly citizen complaints are genuine but it is beyond our control,” he maintained.



Muhammad Rafiq, a vegetable trader, claimed that prices of most seasonal vegetables have been increased in the wholesale markets. “We are selling these commodities at meagre margins in weekly Sunday bazaars. We have no problem in selling these commodities even at half price if the government ensures better prices at the wholesale level or negotiate fixed profit with vendors working in such a hot and humid environment,” he said.

Another vendor, Bashir Hussain, denied the greengrocers were fleecing the public by selling lower quality products at the premium rate. He claimed it was impossible to sell substandard stuff in Sunday bazaars as government officials frequently visit and inspect the quality of the products. The government has set up its office right in the bazaar to listen to public complaints. “Shoppers demand A-grade items at discounted rates which cannot be possible for small vendors. If the government gives some incentive (subsidy) to vendors we will be happy to bring A-grade products and sell at notified rates,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2018.