Bachat bazaars aim to ease inflation worries

Memon says more such markets to be set up across Sindh's districts

HYDERABAD:

The Hyderabad district administration set up bachat bazaars for the second consecutive week on Sunday, selling grocery, vegetables, fruit, milk, soft drinks, crockery, garments, sanitisers, masks and other items at prices much lower than the prevailing market rates.

The bazaars, which according to the administration attracted over 8,000 visitors in a day, were set up in Latifabad and Tando Jam areas.

"The idea behind the bazaars is to provide edible items to the inflation-struck people at the lowest rate possible," said Hyderabad deputy commissioner (DC) Fuad Ghaffar Soomro, who along with MPAs Sharjeel Inam Memon and Abdul Jabbar Khan, inaugurated both the bazaars.

Talking to the media, MPA Sharjeel Memon said that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had given directives that after Hyderabad, similar bazaars should be established in other districts of the province. "The Sindh government wants to provide relief to the people worried by inflation," he claimed, while praising the Hyderabad DC for coming up with the idea of the bazaars.

According to the DC, the administration had also established flour stalls in 18 different localities of Hyderabad, especially middle and low-income areas, selling flour at less than Rs50 per kilogramme.

Soomro said the bachat bazaars would be set up in all four talukas of Hyderabad every Sunday during the coming weeks. However, he acknowledged that the ongoing spike in coronavirus cases would make the task more challenging, though he expressed the belief that the scores of customers turning up at the weekly bazaars justified the need for them.

"Even today we made it mandatory to wear masks," he said, claiming that over 2,000 masks were provided to visitors for free at the Latifabad bazaar alone.

Around 30 stalls selling flour, rice, sugar, oil, pulses, fruits, vegetables, soft drinks and garments, among other items, were set up in Latifabad.

Assistant commissioner (AC) Ishtiaq Ali Mangi told The Express Tribune that approximately 14,000 flour bags of 10kg each were sold at the market, priced between Rs42 to Rs48 per kg. A food court with various stalls was also set up, with discounts of 40 to 50 per cent, he added.

Moreover, milk was sold at Rs90 per litre, against the market price of Rs110, and beef at Rs300.

At the bazaar in Tando Jam, 800 flour bags of 10kg each, 700 bags of sugar weighing 1kg and 600 bags of rice weighing 5kg, among other items, were sold, according to AC Qandeel Memon.

He further stated that sugar was priced at Rs78 per kg, oil at Rs200, flour from Rs43 to Rs48, rice from Rs56 to Rs140, different pulses from Rs134 to Rs210, tomatoes Rs135, onion at Rs70, potatoes at Rs50, bananas at Rs55 and grapes at Rs190 in the Tando Jam market.

However, some buyers at the markets complained that flour and other items appeared to be of substandard quality.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 16^th, 2020.