No sigh of relief for consumers as commodities get costlier

Rawalpindi : Although there has been a downward trend in dollar rates as well as prices of petroleum products are concerned, their impact has not yet trickled down to the consumers because the prices of daily uses commodities are still high.

On the other hand, price control magistrates of district administration, Rawalpindi have left the public in the lurch not visiting markets to control profiteers and hoarders. The profiteers and hoarders freely loot public with both hands while the retailers add fuel to fire and earn over 100 per cent profit. It seems that there was no government writ all around the city. One-kilogram onion was being sold at Rs150, tomatoes at Rs300, peas at Rs400, capsicum (Shimla Mirch) at Rs400, potatoes at Rs80, and carrots at Rs200 at all vegetable stalls on Friday.

The profiteers and hoarders have adopted a trend to stop the supply of their commodities and create an artificial shortage. There was no packed milk in shops for some days when one-litre packed milk was selling at Rs180. The companies had stopped supply and now one-litre-packed milk prices have jumped to Rs220.

Similarly, one-kilogram beef meat is being sold at Rs800 and mutton at Rs1,600 to Rs2,000 while one-kilogram chicken meat is selling in the range of Rs470 to Rs500. The prices of ghee and cooking oil have not been reduced for over two years and one-kilogram ghee is selling at Rs570 and cooking oil at Rs600.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner (DC), Rawalpindi Tahir Farooq told ‘The News’ that we are continuously taking strict action against profiteers and hoarders on regular basis. We will never spare profiteers and hoarders at any cost, he warned. He has warned shopkeepers to display price lists otherwise they would face the music.