Impact of govt relief fails to trickle down to grassroots level

Islamabad : It has been rather unfortunate that despite a huge relief package of Rs50 billion for Utility Stores Corporation (USC) and a cut in POL products by almost 31 rupees in a month by the federal government, its impact has not trickled down to the grassroots level, as the general public is still buying daily use commodities at higher rates.

Unfortunately, the federal government only focused on USC and not on the open market shops. If the government floated this huge relief package of Rs50 billion in open market shops, the public could have got maximum relief on all items in Ramazan.

On the other hand, USC has provided relief to the public by only Re1 or 2 on some items practically. The concerned management had increased cooking oil prices up to Rs215 before Ramazan and cut down prices by Rs20 and fixed the rate of 1-kilogram cooking oil at Rs195. Most of the relief is such as the prices of these commodities were hiked up before Ramazan and then dropped in the name of the relief package.

The Utility Stores Corporation (USC) has literally failed to get the local and branded companies on board to provide all items on subsidised rates to the public during Ramazan. It is also quite unfortunate that some food items are selling on cheaper rates in the open market than the government run utility stores.

In this famine-like situation, it was necessary to government-run stores to provide maximum relief of Rs30 to Rs40 on all items but concerned management has once again dealt this sensitive issue masterly and have continued looting public with both hands in Ramazan. The USC management announced a big relief of Rs40 per kilogram on ‘basin’ (gram flour) and Rs30 per kilogram on ‘dates’ but unfortunately, both items were short in all stores over a week.

The Utility Stores Corporation (USC) Senior Manager (Procurement) Mehtab Banori told ‘The News’ that they have purchased tons of ‘daal chana’ for basin. “We started grinding ‘daal chana’ and there would be enough ‘basin’ at all stores in a day or two,” he assured. He also said that they were trying to purchase fine quality ‘dates’ at cheaper prices to supply in all stores. He also said that within a day or two we are going to decrease the prices of all pulses.

‘The News’ conducted a survey that 1-kilogram ‘daal chana’ is selling at Rs160 in government-run utility stores but it was selling at Rs155 in open market shops. 1-kilogram ‘basin’ is selling at Rs180 in open market shops while Rs140 at USC but unfortunately commodity was not available in stores for over a week. 1-kilogram ‘dates’ are selling at Rs200 to Rs300 in open market shops while USC has a fixed rate of Rs170 but it is not available in stores for around 10 days.

No doubt, the price magistrates are doing paperwork and imposing fines and sometime registering FIRs against profiteers and hoarders but not a single government officer was present here at Fruit and Vegetable Market at the time of open bidding. In the absence of government officers, the profiteers and hoarders rule fruit and vegetable markets at the time of open bidding (rate-fixing).

The retailers have complained that they are buying all items in skyrocketing prices from fruit and vegetable markets. The price magistrates should go there at the time of open bidding rather than taking action only against retailers, they said.

Additional District Collector General (ADCG) Zaheer Anwar Jappa said that they are continuously taking action against profiteers and hoarders on a daily basis.

Hareem Noman, a working lady said that she strongly appreciates government announcement to provide huge relief package of Rs50 billion to USC and reduce POL rates once again but general public was not getting its benefits. Surprisingly, Utility Stores Corporation (USC) is doing the business even in this famine-like situation and selling all items of skyrocketing prices across the country, she denounced.