Traders complain of unnecessary arrests in name of price control

PESHAWAR: Traders and shopkeepers in different main bazaars of the provincial metropolis and various districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have complained against the district administrations for arresting them for violating price control without solving the basic problems.

We were given a price list in April 2019, but we are being arrested in April 2020 for failing to sell things according to the old rates,” said Rahmatullah Mohmand, general secretary of traders union in Nauthia bazaar. He added that the government should provide them fresh price lists and then enforce punishments otherwise it would be difficult for them to continue their businesses.

The shopkeepers said the local police arrested seven persons on March 31 for alleged overcharging and kept them in the lockup for two days. “We have been requesting the authorities to provide us fresh pricelists as the prices of many items have gone up but we are forced to sell items on the prices that had been fixed one year ago,” he argued.

The price of Lobia per kilogram in 2019 was Rs135 but now it is being sold at Rs260. Similarly, channa dal was selling for Rs135 in 2019 but its price is Rs180 in 2020. Enumerating and comparing prices of different items, Rahmatullah Mohmand said the price of every item except rice has gone up in the last one year. He recalled that earlier they received the prices of items every month from the administration but now they have not received the price lists during the last one year.

°We don’t know whose responsibility is this but it is strange,” said a vegetable seller wishing not to be named. He said the government should direct the food department staff to perform their duties for which they were being paid. The shopkeepers said the government was not arresting the main dealers at Ashraf Road and Rampura Gate, wherefrom they were being supplied food items. “We are cooperating with the government and we will jointly fight and defeat coronavirus,” he said, adding, the rulers should also find a solution to their problems.

The residents of Upper Dir apprehended shortage of flour in the local market if the administration failed to solve the basic problems of small dealers. Talking to The News on phone, they held the executive magistrate responsible for the existing unrest among small dealers. They said the magistrate was a honest man but he could not force them to sell flour at the previous price.

They argued that the official rate for a bag of 20kg flour is Rs808 and the small dealers could not afford to sell it at the same price after paying for transportation and labour costs. They pointed out that there was only one flourmill in Upper Dir for a population of approximately 1.2 million. “It cannot meet local needs. The local shopkeepers purchase flour from the main dealers in Batkhela and Mardan,” one of the dealers said.

“Since the transportation and labour costs have also increased, the local shopkeepers could not afford to it sell 20kg bag of atta at the government rate, ie Rs808,” he added. Another resident, Mushtaq Khan, pointed out that the drug inspectors should inspect the drugstores but the administration officials were doing the checking. He said the unnecessary checking would force the owners to close down their drugstores.

The administration officers, he said, should come out of their offices and monitor the situation to take practical steps to keep prices under check at a time when the coronavirus is making life miserable for the people.