Rawalpindi :It would not be over-exaggeration to say that the country has been virtually in economic turmoil with fast-depleting foreign reserves, a historic depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar, and soaring inflation, and as a result the common man could not purchase even eatable kitchen items like flour, sugar, pulses, ghee and vegetables easily but Rawalpindi management was showing its performance through digging newly carpeted roads to reconstruct them again.
Why, city and cantonment board managements were showing their performance in constructing roads that were already in good condition it would have been better to start patchwork of roads if needed and this money should have been spent on the welfare of citizens through the establishment of ‘Sasta Weekly Bazaars’ everywhere where the poor segment of society could purchase all eatable items at cheaper rates.
But, Rawalpindi City and Cantonment Board managements have given preference to construct roads rather to provide an easy life of the public in this ‘famine-like’ situation where a poor man was buying a 10-kilogram ‘atta’ bag at Rs1470 to Rs1500, 1-kilogram onions at Rs130, potatoes at Rs150, tomatoes at Rs150, sugar at Rs145 and ghee at Rs520 from the open market.
All this is exacting a heavy toll on consumers, especially people belonging to low-income groups, who continue to struggle to make ends meet as prices of daily use items including flour, sugar, ghee, pulses, meat, and milk continue to see an upward trajectory in whole and retail markets in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
The condition of roads here in Rawalpindi city and cantonment board localities is not bad and we could handle it through ‘patchwork’ if needed. Food was most important for human life which was selling at the price of ‘gold’ but district administration, Rawalpindi was not considering the ‘food crisis issue’ a major issue, people of the city told ‘The News’ here on Sunday. Where our thinkers and policymakers have gone, if they are here in the country why they are not seeing the difficulties of public. Public demands cheaper priced food items rather than development work in this situation, people bemoaned.
We had a bumper wheat crop last year and all of our stores were packed with wheat but the public was buying a 10-kilogram flour bag at Rs1500. All new crops have landed new potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and all other vegetables have landed in markets but they are being sold at the price of ‘gold’ because of smuggling.
Muhammad Mukhtar Sheikh, a local said that all food items were being smuggled to Afghanistan via Torkham. Not only ‘atta’ but all vegetables, meat, and chicken were continuously being smuggled to Afghanistan but our government was looking at the whole drama with closed eyes, he strongly protested.
Urosa Tariq, a student said that it was pre-planned to pour down more and more burden on the public. The policymakers and the bosses should think about the public. She demanded higher authorities to stop smuggling to reduce the prices of eatable items in the country, she bemoaned.
Interestingly, all major local and multi-national companies continue to juggle, raising prices of their products from food to non-food items including milk every week without being checked by any regulators at the federal and provincial level.
In the open market, the price of chicken meat has touched Rs590 per kg. Similarly, eggs are being sold at Rs350 per dozen, mutton between Rs2000 and Rs2200 per kg, beef at Rs1100 per kg and milk between Rs200 to Rs220 per litre.
Yogurt is being sold at Rs200 per kg, chickpeas at Rs300, banaspati ghee at Rs520, cooking oil at Rs550 and rice at Rs420 per kg. The rate of potatoes has climbed up to Rs150 per kg, onion up to Rs120, tomatoes Rs150, pea Rs200, garlic Rs300, ginger Rs540, green chilies Rs120, capsicum and lemon Rs100 each, brinjal Rs100, bitter gourd Rs180, and the price of arvi has reached R150.
As there is no check on the sale of daily use products of the multinational companies, different brands of milk have increased prices up to Rs280 per litre.
With the increase in the price of tea, the quantity of boxed tea has also been reduced. A box of tea was available for Rs2200 per 800 grams a week ago but now its price has not only been increased to Rs370 but its weight has also been reduced from 1000 grams to 800 grams. The same has been done with ghee and oil prices. The price of one litre of oil was Rs500 which has been increased to Rs530 and its weight has been reduced from 1 litre to 900 grams. People have appealed to the government to provide at least food items to the public at cheaper prices. There was no need for roads because roads were in fine condition and we could survive without roads but not without food.