Slashed fuel prices: Positive effects fail to reach grassroots

Price of tomatoes skyrockets as supply from India halted after suicide attack at Wagah border

ISLAMABAD: Prices of food commodities and as well as transport fares have remained unchanged even after the government significantly slashed fuel prices last week.

The public had expected reduction in prices of essential items and fares after the cut in fuel prices.



What, however, has changed is the price of tomato which has skyrocketed after the halt in the Pak-India trade at Wagha border following the suicide attack on November 2.

Traders said the price will only come down once the supply is restored.

“The tomato supply from upcountry, particularly from Swat, is not enough to meet the demand.

The price will stabilise once Indian supply is restored or fresh supply starts from Sindh,” said a vegetable wholesaler while talking to The Express Tribune.

The commodity is being sold at Rs60-70 per kilogramme in the wholesale market and at Rs90-100 in the retail market.

Traders said prices have not come down because transporters have not reduced fares yet.

They hoped that transporters would cut fares after the Tablighi Ijtima concludes at Raiwind, since thousands of vans, buses and trucks had been booked for the annual congregation.

Commuters’woes

Public transporters in the twin cities too have not passed on the benefit of the price cut to commuters, saying the authorities had not revised the schedule yet.



Commuters have demanded the Regional Transport Authority to issue a revised schedule at the earliest.

“The government should issue the new fare lists for intra-city and inter-city transport and enforce them. The violators must not go unpunished,” said Muhammad Ali, a commuter.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2014.