LAHORE: The customers at the city’s Sunday Bazaars complained that the measuring scales had been tempered with and vendors gave short measures of vegetables and fruits.
Customers said the management had failed to maintain the product quality and now it was helpless against vendors measuring short. They said the authorities should bind the vendors to have electronic scales.
None of the bazaars have electronic scales and the vendors weigh vegetables and fruits manually. A large number of people complained that often the weight of the quantity their purchased was less than they paid for. “Last Sunday, I purchased two kilograms of onions and paid Rs 108 but when I checked its weight from an electronic weighing machine, it was short by 100 grams,” said a customer, Nasir Akhter, at Iqbal Town Sunday bazaar. Another customer, Tahir Saleem, also shared similar views. A housewife, Zahida Masood, demanded that authorities should take action against vendors involved in tempering scales and bind them to have electronic scales. “It is not a Herculean task to check the weighing scales,” she added.
However, the vendors said they were not involved in such practice. They said it was not possible for them to purchase electronic scales as they were quite expensive. Meanwhile the prices of vegetables and fruits increased by at least Rs 3-5 per kg, while prices of chicken decreased by Rs 7 per kg.
The vendors said the prices increased due to a decrease in production owing to cold. “It has not rained for the last two months now and it is dangerous for the vegetables,” said a vendor Jalal Khan, adding if there will be no rain then the prices will remain high.
Chicken sellers said the price of chicken decreased due to less consumption. “The marriage season is over and the chicken demand has decreased, which has resulted in a decline in prices by Rs 7-10 per kg as compared to last week’s,” said a chicken seller Shahzad Rafiq. “If chicken prices declined any further then it will become difficult for the farmers to meet the cost of production,” he added.
