October 25, 2003	Saturday	Sha’aban 28, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 24: The district administration has established 22 fair price shops in the federal Capital to provide consumer items at cheaper rates during the holy month of Ramazan.

Out of 22 shops, 13 shops have been established in rural areas and nine in the urban locality.

The consumer items, which will be provided at these fair price shops include flour Atta bag (20kgs) at Rs205, vegetable ghee at Rs54 per kg, Dal Chana Rs21 per kg, gram flour (Besan) Rs22 per kg.

The localities where the fair price shops have been established include Mehboob Traders Lehtrar Road Tarlai, Shan general store main Bazar Sihala, Rasheed wholesale dealer Noorpur Shahan, Hazara general store Lehtrar Road Alipur Farash, a general store Malik Azhar Plaza Sohan, a general store Simly Dam Road Bhara Kahu, Haji Muhammad Gulzar general store village Kalyah, Muhammad general store Pind Sangrial, Amir general store Seri Chowk Abbassiabad, Bismillah general store Pind Begwal, Karyana & general store Main Bazaar Rawat, Ali general store Bari Imam.

Similarly, fair price shops also established at Co-operative Madina Market G-6/1, Chaudhery Traders Chanab Market, G-7/1, Shop No.3 Imran Market G-8/1, Awami General Store Kalar Saydan Plaza G-9 Markaz, Pak Buchat Store G-10 Markaz, Ali general store Abbasi Market I-9/4, Chaudhery Traders Darbar Market I-8/1, Abad I.B general store I&T Centre G-10/1, Khan Jee general store at Goal Market G-7/4.

A REPORTER ADDS: The prices of essential items like pulses, vegetables, milk, wheat flour, cooking oil, fruits and other commodities have shown an unprecedented rise with the advent of Ramazan.

Criticizing this increase, the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) senior vice-president, Chaudhry Mukhtar Ahmed, said this unusual price hike had come despite the government providing relief to traders and withdrawing 15 per cent general sales tax on milk and other food items.

He said a delegation of the ICCI visited several wholesale and retail markets in Islamabad to conduct a survey, which showed that the prices of various commodities had shown an unusual increase over the last week.

“The 20kg bag of flour, which was being sold for Rs205 only two weeks ago, is now available for Rs215.

Similarly, the 5kg pack of cooking oil, which was available for Rs260 only a few days ago, is now being sold for Rs290,” the ICCI senior vice-president said.

Even more worrying is the fact that the prices of vegetables like tomato, potato, onion and fruits have shot up by 50 to 100 per cent over the last fortnight.

The situation in the CDA’s weekly Bazaars is not much better as this increase in prices of essential commodities have shown an upward trend there as well, Mr Ahmed said.

He alleged that the government departments had no control over the prices.

This price spiral during the month of Ramazan could cause a great deal of anxiety and resentment among the poor families, he added.

The senior vice-president asked the authorities concerned to take some solid steps to keep the prices of edible items within reasonable limits.