Admin, traders spar over prices

The talks between the traders and the Rawalpindi district administration to determine prices of food and grocery items during Ramazanul Mubarak failed to reach a consensus on Saturday.

On Friday, local traders had warned of closing their businesses if the district administration attempted to enforce official prices during the holy month of Ramazan.

Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner Hassan Waqar Cheema refused to issue the price list as per the retail prices, saying the price list issued by the district administration would be enforced in letter and spirit.

The meeting of the District Price Control Committee lasted for more than two hours. Traders argued that as Rawalpindi was not a grain market and all grains were brought from the Sargodha grain market, the shopkeepers in Rawalpindi be given due profit per kilogram after deducting transportation charges. Otherwise, they would protest.

The traders made it clear that shopkeepers in the Rawalpindi division could not sell items like rice and pulses at the wholesale rates of the Sargodha grain market. The DC, however, argued that the Punjab government had decided to issue a price list as per the wholesale rates of Sargodha or Khushab markets.

It is expected that the new rates will be issued in the next 24 hours. The traders of all sectors will decide the next course of action after a joint meeting.

On Friday, strife occurred between the district administration and shopkeepers over new prices of the groceries items including milk and yogurt. They have warned of not selling rice, pulses, white chickpeas or other eatables at the prices to be set by the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

Announcing that they cannot buy expensive pulses and chickpeas and sell them at cheaper rates, the traders have suggested the government take action against the wholesalers for increasing the prices of commodities instead of squeezing the retailers, including vegetable and fruit vendors, under the garb of inflation.

Traders have further warned that in case of an FIR against any shopkeeper during the holy month, they could go for a complete shutter-down strike till Eidul Fitr.

Chairing a meeting, the central president of the Grocery Merchants Association, Saleem Parvez Butt said that the price magistrates have been given orders to register cases against the shopkeepers and send them to jail.

“A small shopkeeper doesn’t cause inflation. There won’t be any inflation if the government machinery ensures that the wholesale dealers will decrease the prices of commodities.”

He said that the ordinary shopkeepers sold a lot of pulses at lower prices than the utility stores, suggesting that the prices should be fixed by first fixing the shopkeeper’s profit at the wholesale rate of the city grain market in each district and then deducting transportation costs.

“We will provide complete assistance in this regard, but we won’t accept any closed-door price agreements. If official rates are forcibly imposed, the sale of all such essential items such as grocery items will stop in the Rawalpindi division.”

Saleem said that they won’t immediately shut their businesses unless price magistrates file cases against small shopkeepers and arrest them.

Meanwhile, the Mutton Beef Sellers Union and Gowala Union have also opposed the new prices.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2024.