Sale of substandard items at ‘Sasta Bazaars’ goes unchecked

Rawalpindi : The ‘Ramazan Sasta Bazaars’ that have been set up in ten localities of the city to facilitate citizens are selling substandard fruits, vegetables, and other items at higher rates on 1st Ramazan, but the concerned authorities have left the public in a lurch. Meanwhile essential items like sugar, ‘ghee’ and gram flour (basin) were not available in all bazaars here on Wednesday.

The local administration is trying to befool the poor and selling unhygienic fruit and vegetables at all ‘Ramazan Sasta Bazaars’. One kilogram of low-quality apples are being sold at Rs90, low-quality banana at Rs150, low quality dates at Rs150 and 1-kilogram melons at Rs40. Other fruits are not available in bazaars. Similarly, one-kilogram low-quality potatoes are being sold at Rs49, onion at Rs40, tomato at Rs60.

Health experts say that substandard food may cause diseases like typhoid, hepatitis, diarrhoea, and different kinds of infections.

On the other hand, open market shopkeepers are looting public with both hands and selling 1-kilogram potato at Rs50 against Rs30, onion at Rs40 against Rs30, lemon at Rs500 against Rs100, tomato at Rs80 against Rs40, capsicum (shimla mirch) at Rs120 against Rs80, gourd (kaddo) at Rs100 against Rs60, bitter gourd (karela) at Rs80 against Rs60, ladyfinger at Rs150 against Rs120, cucumber at Rs80 against Rs50.

Similarly, one-kilogram apple is selling at Rs200-250, banana at Rs200, melon at Rs100, strawberry at Rs200, guava at Rs200, grapes at Rs400, dates at Rs250 and 1-kilogram watermelon at Rs60.

Talking to ‘The News,’ people expressed anger over the sale of unhygienic food items in government-run ‘sasta’ bazaars. They alleged that the concerned authorities were not taking the matter seriously.

Dr. Uzma Irfan said that there should be a constant check on the sale of unhygienic food items. She said that officials should come out of their cozy rooms to keep a check on unhygienic food items openly sold in ‘Ramazan Sasta Bazaars’.

Muhammad Asghar, another citizen said that local management doing nothing but paperwork.

Assistant Commissioner (Rawalpindi) Mehar Ghulam Abbas has assured the sale of fresh fruits and vegetables in bazaars. “I will never spare shopkeepers for selling substandard food items in sasta bazaars,” he warned. He also said that they were continuously visiting open market shops to check the prices of daily commodities.