City District Government Lahore (CDGL) has decided to introduce a more rigorous mechanism for price control during the holy month of Ramzan in the open market.
“The CDGL had established 31 Ramzan bazaars in all nine towns of the city and more than 6.8 million families visited these bazaars to get subsidised commodities in the holy month,” District Coordination Officer (DCO) Lahore Captain retired Muhammad Usman Younis said on Tuesday.
The data was collected by the installed digital counters at the walk-through gates, he added. He expressed these views while talking to a group of media persons in the Town Hall regarding the productivity of Ramzan Bazaars which were established in the city during the last month. He said that all the Ramzan bazaars were established keeping in view the geographical location so maximum citizens residing in every nook and corner of the city can benefit from them.
In total, more than 3.8 million kilogram of sugar was sold in Ramzan bazaars while 1.3 million bags of flour were sold during the holy month. Moreover, 86 thousand kilograms of beef and 64 thousand KG of mutton was sold in 31 Ramzan bazaars.
The arrangements by the CDGL in Ramzan bazaars were up to the mark but the district government failed miserably to have a check on price control in the open market. A survey was conducted in the open market during the holy month and a number of shoppers registered their complaints regarding over-charging. The average price of date was set by the CDGL in the open market between 125 and 160 per kilogram but it was being sold in most parts of the city at the price of more than Rs 300 per kg. Similarly, the vendors also charged the citizens a very high price for banana as the price of banana was set at Rs 100 per dozen but it was sold at Rs 200 to 250 per dozen in the open market.
According to DCO, a fine of 3.2 million was collected because of over-charging and more than 5000 people were arrested by the price control magistrates over violations. When asked about the exorbitant price of tomatoes in the Eid days, DCO said that there was a huge scarcity of tomatoes these days and inflation is a natural phenomenon during scarcity.
The supply of tomatoes was cut-off from other provinces due to pre-monsoon rains and demand was also high because of Eid, he said. He was of the view that there is a dearth of dedicated price control magistrates as these magistrates have to perform their duty inside the offices as well. Some improvements would be made very next year to have a more strict check on the price control in the open market, he maintained.
