Engro Food (Pvt) Limited and Nestle Company (Pvt) Ltd have reportedly increased the prices of one litre milk pack from Rs 110 to Rs 115 without any reason putting an additional burden of Rs 5 per litre on the poor consumers.
The Engro Company has notified in a circular to the shopkeepers a sudden hike in the prices of one litre milk pack from Rs 110 per litre to Rs 115 per litre even before the advent of the holy month of Ramazan.
The price of 12 milk pack carton had been increased from Rs 1,260 to Rs 1,380 for the consumers, a notification of the Engro Company said.
The consumers have strongly criticised the sudden increase in the prices of Milk Pack and Olper and demanded of the government to take action against the companies for jacking up the prices and direct them to withdraw the prices immediately prior to the holy month of Ramazan.
They were of the view that the government had already provided much relief to the people by bringing down the prices of petroleum products through sustained subsidy in the recent years. It had helped slashing of prices of the daily use items, but the steps by the manufacturing companies like producers of milk and dairy items of abrupt increase in prices would put an additional burden on the consumers, especially the low-income group, they said.
The consumers wondered that the transportation charges of daily use items hovered around the lowest in recent history of the country but prices of dairy products had been suddenly increased which would bring an undue profit for the manufacturers.
