Ramzan bazaars fail to provide relief

LAHORE: The prices of edibles available at Ramzan bazaars are no different than the rates at the local markets, though, sugar and flour remained unaffected from the sky-rocketing prices in the month of Ramzan.

The situation reflects the inadequacy of the Punjab government in providing relief, which it had spoken of so haughtily.

The bazaar in Samanabad’s National Bank Colony, Gulshane Ravi and Shalimar Town are a slap in the face of the people of Punjab. Punjab had them running after a mirage in the name of subsidised goods.

All regions of Pakistan have Ramzan bazaars in one or another city; same is the case with Lahore where every locality of the city has Ramzan bazaars of its own. These bazaars will operate till the end of the holy month.

These bazaars are being coordinated by respective town’s staff rather than the Fair Price Control staffers and it seems as they only sit there to chill out. There has been no action against price hikes in the bazaars of Samanabad, Wahdat Colony, Gulshane Ravi and Shalimar Town and are proof that all that glitter is not gold as these not so cheap Ramzan bazaars are out of people’s reach.

A customer, Ashraf, told Pakistan Today that the apples, which are imported from New Zealand, are being sold at Rs300 per kg and if we do not buy these imported fruits then the only options we are left with are grade 2 and grade 3 products, which are not for human consumption.

Some of the women customers at the bazaar said that this bazaar is useless as we cannot find what we want to buy, and if we find it then it’s out of our reach, so we have to go back to our normal markets. Moreover, local markets are much better than this fancy Ramzan bazaar, at least you can find most of the products there unlike here, they said.

The Punjab government has failed its people, if it was so keen on arranging people-friendly bazaars then the least they could do was to set them up in an effective manner so people could have also taken benefits from them.