14 teams constituted to ensure sugar sale at official rates

Islamabad : Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration has constituted as many as 14 teams to ensure the sale of sugar at official rates to the consumers, besides uninterrupted supply of the edible in the capital markets.

The shopkeepers at different markets were provided sugar bags at the retail price of Rs83 per kilogram to sell the buyer at Rs85 kg, deputy director food (ICT) Muhammad Afzal told this agency on Sunday. There was a sufficient amount of sugar in the city and over 500 bags being provided at the shops on daily basis to meet the demands of locals, he maintained.

Around 59 fair-price shops including fruit and vegetable stalls were already functional in various areas of the city to provide edibles at government notified rates. The teams headed by assistant commissioners and price magistrates were paying regular visits at the markets and stalls while violators were fined and booked at the spot, said Afzal. To a query, he said the administration was procuring sugar from Punjab government who imported through Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) at controlled rates.

The owners of shops and stallholder were strictly asked to display an official rate list of edible items on prominent places for the convenience of the buyers, he added.

Meanwhile, the residents have complained about the non-display of price list at the markets that increased miseries of inflation-hit citizens. They said people were already facing record price hike despite having limited financial resources. But the shopkeepers were adding fuel to fire by charging extra money especially on household products.

Rizwan Ahmed, a buyer at G-9 market said consumers at least show some reluctant to shopkeepers if they were not displaying rate lists which was a sheer violation of trading bylaws. “Consumers associations played a vital role to control price hike across the world, but unfortunately in our country, they are least bother to address the issue,” he regretted.

A strong mechanism should be evolved, keeping in view the concerns of both, buyers and sellers to reach out an amicable solution, he opined. Farhan Khan, another buyer at G-11 Markaz urged the quarters concerned to ensure strict vigilance over the shopkeepers and depute their staff at the markets on a routine basis to discourage the profiteers.