No cut in food costs despite POL price dip
Despite the decrease in petroleum product prices, the cost of essential commodities in Rawalpindi has remained stubbornly high, much to the frustration of local citizens.
According to sources, the inflationary trend is even apparent in the otherwise cheap Sunday markets.
Apart from a decrease of Rs1,000 in the price of ginger, which was earlier being sold at Rs1,600 per kg, there was no significant decrease in the prices of vegetables and fruits.
Citizens who came to shop at the Sunday Bazaar, Committee Chowk kept haggling with the shopkeepers over high prices where ginger was being sold at Rs600, onion and potato at Rs120, tomato at Rs200, okra at Rs130 and cabbage at Rs50 per kilogramme.
The buyers at the Sunday Bazar also expressed disappointment after hearing the rates of garlic at Rs400, bitter gourd at Rs130 and green chillies at Rs100 per kilogramme.
They said despite the reduction of POL prices, inflation could not be curbed in the open market. “Where should we go? We do not have any other option but to buy the essential items at higher rates,” they lamented.
Meanwhile, the rates of the fruits in the Sunday Bazaar were also high. The apples were being sold at Rs250, pomegranates at Rs250, grapes at Rs200 to Rs350 per kilogramme. The substandard quality fruits were being sold at Rs20 to Rs30 lower rates per kilo as compared to the open market.
Muhammad Bashir Ashraf and Shabbir Ahmed, who came to buy goods at cheap rates at the Sunday Bazaar, told The Express Tribune that “it is not enough to just call Sunday Bazaar a cheap market but the administration should also implement the official rate list here so that those who come for shopping can buy vegetables and fruits at cheap rates.”
On the other hand, the price control mechanism to break the ongoing wave of inflation in the cheap Sunday markets has also become completely ineffective. Even the rate list issued by the administration is not prominently displayed in the Sunday market and the shopkeepers charge arbitrary rates from the buyers.
If the rate is low, the quality of the fruit or vegetable is very poor and the rate of better quality vegetables and fruits is also set according to the profit maximisation strategy. When the customer objects, he is asked to buy low-quality vegetables and fruits at a low price.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 7th, 2023.