Profiteering: Multan vegetable traders go on strike over arrests

MULTAN:

Shopkeepers at the main vegetables and fruits market in Multan on Saturday shuttered down their shops and went on strike in protest against the district government for arresting 10 vendors on Thursday.

The district government had arrested the vendors for selling fruits and vegetables for twice the notified prices.
There are 850 shops at the market where vegetable and fruits sellers from Multan and Bahawalpur divisions sell agricultural produce wholesale.
On Saturday, the vendors boycotted sales and called for a strike at the regional level. They also blocked the National Highway for traffic entering the Multan district.
The demonstration was led by traders union’s president Muhammad Shakeel. The shopkeepers chanted slogans against the district government. Shakeel told The Express Tribune that the government had fixed unreasonably low rates for agricultural produce.

Muhammad Rafiq, a vegetable seller, told The Express Tribune that they had bought tomatoes for Rs66 per kg and sold it for Rs70 per kg. He said the government had asked them to sell tomatoes for Rs60 per kg “which is simply ridiculous”, he said.

City government and police officials reached at the site of the protest and tried to placate the protesters. Additional District Commissioner Ali Akbar Bhatti told The Express Tribune that the vendors had not shared the whole story.

“We have warned them several times against profiteering but the vendors who were arrested had crossed our threshold for tolerance,” he said.

A mafia has been causing an artificial shortage and price hike in the district, he said.
Several citizens who visited the market said the government was right to arrest the vendors who were selling commodities at such inflated rates.
Protesters dispersed after protesting for 14 hours. A delegation of vegetable and fruit sellers will now meet with district officials and provide evidence to support their claims.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2013.