Citizens decry long queues in markets during Ramazan in Rawalpindi

Shopkeepers directed to keep price list in prominent places to avoid profiteering

RAWALPINDI: Despite efforts by the district administration to control the price hikes during the holy month of Ramazan, citizens of Rawalpindi claim to be facing trouble when they head to the markets to purchase items for daily use.

The 52 price magistrates seem helpless in front of grocers in the open markets. Commodities such as sugar and lemon have been rationed by weight after which a consumer has been limited to purchasing just a kilogramme of sugar and 250 grammes of lemons.

Up to 19 items are available at subsidized rates which include sugar at Rs55 per kg, lemon at Rs160 per kg, onion at Rs23 per kg, and bananas are Rs110-120  per dozen. Beef and mutton are for Rs345 per kg and Rs750 per kg respectively.

By comparison, onion is available for Rs56 per kg, lemon for Rs320 per kg, bananas are between Rs180-Rs220 a dozen, beef is for Rs450 per kg while boneless is Rs550 per kg and mutton is being sold between Rs900-Rs950 per kg in the open market.

PFA teams visit stalls in Ramazan bazaars

Long queues comprising people of both genders could be witnessed waiting for several hours to purchase subsidized items while the administration shuts down the bazaars from 12 pm to 2 pm. A number of consumers have also complained about the poor quality of items being sold in the bazaars. The Committee Chowk Ramazan Bazaar President Sheikh Abdul Wahab said that the rates fixed by the market committee secretary were less than the cost of the products in the wholesale markets owing to which the stall holders were unable to meet their expenses.

He said that they were stopped in the morning when they had decided to stage a protest against it. Subsequently, the monitoring magistrate of the bazaar, Rawalpindi Assistant Commissioner Haider Abbas, said that up to 19 items were being sold in subsidized rates in all Ramazan bazaars. He stated that the rate of lemon would decrease as soon as lemon from Sindh would reach the markets. Justifying the rationing of items, he said that the reason behind it was to make food items available to everyone.

The citizens have demanded the government to control the surge in prices and improve the quality of items available.

Crackdown on profiteers in Islamabad

Raid against profiteering

Deputy Commissioner Rawalpindi Chaudhary Muhammad Ali Randhawa has directed the district administration officers to ensure that daily use items and vegetables were being sold in accordance to official price list during Ramazan.

The officers of the administration were actively conducting raids in Ramazan Bazaars and open markets to ensure that citizens were being supplied quality food items according to the officially approved price-list.

Furthermore, he warned shopkeepers to display the price lists at prominent places.

He further informed that he was reviewing the prices and availability of essential items in Ramazan bazaars and implementation of Ramazan package.  He said the officials of the departments concerned had been directed to make earnest efforts to ensure implementation of Ramazan relief package announced by the government.

(With additional input from APP)

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2019.