Several nanbais arrested for not selling roti at cut price

PESHAWAR: The district administration on Tuesday launched a crackdown on nanbais (bakers) for violating the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s directives on the cut in the roti (tortilla) price.

The administration said officials visited several localities in Peshawar and inspected the weight and prices of rotis. It said that 15 bakers were arrested for violating the provincial government directives.

The administration instructed the officials to continue the inspection and take a stern action against the nanbais found defying the government orders.Meanwhile, the Nanbais association held a meeting and accepted the government decision. However, the association set two conditions for the government in return for accepting the government decision on flat bread price.

Nanbais Association President Farooq Ahmad said bakers were facing a difficult situation but accepted the government decision despite that. He said the bakers would not abide by this decision if the gas loadshedding issue was not resolved.Farooq said that Nanbais would increase the price of the bread if the flour price was raised again.

He said that if the Punjab government hiked the flour price, they would expect the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to issue the roti price hike notification in a similar manner in which this notification was issued the day before to cut the price of the tortilla.

It may be mentioned here that the KP government on Monday announced a decrease in the prices of roti.

KP Food Minister Zahir Shah Toru had announced slashing the prices of roti by Rs5. He had said that the prices of 100 grams and 200 grams roti would now be Rs15 and Rs30, respectively.The Nanbhai Association had termed the decision to cut the price of bread unilateral, saying the government had neither taken the bakers into confidence nor consulted them before the decision.