15 tandoors sealed for selling roti and naan at exorbitant prices

Rawalpindi: The administration has sealed 15 ‘tandoors’ in different areas of the city and fined Rs223,000 against 67 ‘naanbais’ selling ‘roti’ and ‘naan’ in exorbitant prices here on Monday. They were selling a ‘roti’ at Rs20 and a ‘naan’ at Rs25.

The Deputy Commissioner (DC), Rawalpindi Hasan Waqar Cheema has warned ‘naanbais’ to sell ‘roti’ and ‘naan’ according the rates issued by Punjab government otherwise they will face strict action. He said that we will implement the Punjab government notification at any cost. Crackdown against price violators will remain continued in future, he warned. He said that price violators will not only face big fines but they will also face Adiala Jail if they violated price list of Punjab government. Punjab government has reduced ‘Atta’ prices, why ‘naanbais’ were not reducing ‘roti’ and ‘naan’ prices, he said.

On the other hand, Rawalpindi-Islamabad ‘Naanbais’ Welfare Association President Shafiq Qureshi told ‘The News’ that they were ready to cooperate with administration if Punjab government reduced ‘Atta’ and gas prices. Punjab government not issued any kind of notification to reduce ‘atta’ price. Atta bags were selling in skyrocketing rates as per routine while natural increased by 850 per cent. The SNGPL not providing them full pressure gas even in normal weather therefore we were using expensive LPG, he claimed. ‘The News’ has observed that some of ‘naanbais’ were selling 60 to 70-gram ‘roti’ and ‘naan’ at Rs16 and Rs20.