Stale and mildewed fruits continued to be sold at the weekly Sunday bazaars and food inspectors continued to harass shopkeepers to bribe them, Pakistan Today learnt on Sunday. Unchecked by the market committees of the concerned towns, an unavailability of fresh and quality items prevailed in the Sunday bazaars as buyers were forced to pick from the stale items. The buyers complained that the market committee were giving a free hand to the sellers for their personal benefits. The sellers complained that food inspectors asked to be bribed otherwise they threatened to cancel their stalls by declaring them substandard.
The prices in the market remained consistent mostly however the value for money was not returned to buyers. A customer in the Wahdat Colony Sunday Bazaar, Arshad Chohan, said that the government seemed helpless even in small affairs such as the maintenance of quality at Sunday Bazaars but claimed that it would curb dengue. He said that the issue of stale fruits and vegetables was not new in Sunday bazaars but this time around, the quality of food items had degraded further. Another shopper Mrs Haroon Iqbal said that she had come to buy pulses and drinks from the bazaar and she did not plan on buying the vegetables or fruits as the items available were of poor standard.
City District Government Lahore Food Inspectors were alleged by the meat sellers for asking bribe, in order to allow sale on meat stalls. A mutton seller, Asif, in Shadman Bazaar alleged Food Inspector Dr Sarwat Hussain of dumping the meat that was already checked, because Asif refused to bribe him and threatened to complain the higher authorities about the issue. Asif said that Dr Sarwat dumped 80 kilogrammes mutton in the drain without considering that the meat was checked by doctors in the slaughter house and fined him Rs 1500 and registered cases against two sales boys.
