New rates of basic commodities issued

Trade associations reject new prices, call for withdrawal of notification

RAWALPINDI:

District administration on Friday issued new prices of essential food items including pulses for the convenience of citizens.

Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner Shoaib Ali has issued a notification in this regard.

However, grocery, naan and meat sellers have rejected the prices, calling them ‘drawing room prices.’

Grocery Merchants Association, Naanbai Association, and Beef Mutton Welfare Union announced that nothing would be sold at the new official prices as they cannot buy expensive items and sell them cheap.

They asked the DC to review the rates and make them more realistic.

As per the notification issued by the DC, the official price of milk has been set at Rs150 per litre, while the price of curd has been fixed at Rs160. Conversely, milk is being sold at Rs180 per litre and curd at Rs200 per kg across the district.

According to the notification, the official price of mutton has been set at Rs1,400 per kg and the price of beef at Rs700 per kg, while mutton is being sold at Rs1,600 per kg and beef at Rs1,000 per kg.

Officially, the price of red flour roti (pateeri) has been fixed at Rs15 while in the open market, its price is Rs20.

The official price of naan is Rs20 while in the market it is being sold for Rs30 and paratha is being sold for Rs50.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2022.