Protests, road blockades disrupt supply of fruits, vegetables

LAHORE:Protests and road blockades by a religious party have adversely affected supplies of perishables to the City on second consecutive days.

The provincial and district administrations have failed to implement official prices of goods on first day of Ramazan as massive overcharging has been recorded across the City. Across the City, the prices which were registered an upwards trend during the last few days now are touching a new high on the first day of Ramazan.

Majority of perishables were not sold at special Ramazan Bazaars due to price differential from open market. Even potatoes, guava, apples, bananas and lemon were not available at the agricultural marketing stalls after mid-day. The staff in different Ramazan bazaars claimed that limited quantity was supplied from the mandi (main market) to them which were sold out by 11am to 12noon. They spoke about uncertainty of new supply and said storable items like potatoes have vanished from the stock. All the procured potatoes were already supplied and now the new procurement will be made, an official of the agricultural marketing department disclosed. The supply of perishables is adversely affected due to ongoing road blocks by the protesters across the province and various main roads are blocked, he said, adding even they were unable to ensure timely supply of available perishable to the Ramazan Bazaars of the City established at different localities due to road blockades around the main market (Mandi), he added.

On the other hand, the district administration’s ‘Insaf mobile shops’ was also proving a failure. In the various localities of City these mobile shops were also selling perishables higher than the official rates. A couple of roadside vendors in Dharampura areas said that the government officials collected their bio-data and pasted these banners of colours of PTI flags on their loader rickshaws. However, not a single day they got anything at auction rates from the government officials from the Mandi. They said they were purchasing perishables from mandi as usual on past practice so selling at higher rates.

Once we get it auction rates then we could be able to sell it at official rates fixed by the government, they added. Similar practice of selling at higher rates by these roadside ‘Insaf Mobile Shops’ vendors was observed in other parts of the City.

On Wednesday, potato was sold at Rs40 to 50 per kg for mix quality and Rs60 per kg for A-category, while in posh localities it sold at Rs80 per kg, onion at Rs30 to 50 per kg, tomato at Rs60 to 100 per kg, Ginger at Rs400 per kg, Green Chilli at Rs80 to 120 per kg, lemon China at Rs400 to 450 per kg, and Lemon desi at Rs600 per kg. Watermelon was sold at Rs50 to 60 per kilogram, melon at Rs70 to 80 per kg, Apples at Rs150 to 250 per kg, Banana Rs120 to 200 per dozen, guava 150 to 200 per kg, strawberry Rs150 to 180 per kg.

The price of chicken meat liver bird was fixed at Rs238 per kg, sold at Rs270 to 280 per kg, while meat was fixed at Rs345 per kg, sold at Rs360 to 400 per kg.