04 October 2004	Monday	18 Shaban 1425

A series of meetings between the government functionaries and the traders are being planned to fix the prices of essential commodities in Ramadan.

According to the Price Control Act, the provincial/city government is empowered to fix the prices of 17 items only, consequently most of the essential commodities fall outside their jurisdiction,

In the absence of any effective organization at the government level, the collection, collation and analysis of prices is not possible. Resultantly, the price fixation is dependent on the statistics provided by traders and commission agents.

The effort of the administration is, therefore, focused on ensuring that the prices are kept at the pre-Ramadan level. In anticipation of this eventuality, traders increase the prices much before the advent of Ramadan.

The price list mutually agreed by traders and the administration is required to be displayed on shop by all the retailers and also is published through the media. Ad hoc 'complaint centres' are established in all the recognized markets centre.

Some times limited magisterial powers are bestowed upon the city government functionaries for award of punishment to the profiteers. Unfortunately this system has proved to be ineffective. The reason being that most of the shops located away from the recognized markets freely indulge in profiteering.

The checking team is unable to visit all such shops. Also the consumers generally avoid to register complaint against shop keepers of their locality for obvious reasons.

In a few cases when profiteering shop keepers are fined by the magistrates having limited powers, the culprit retailers after paying the fine become immune from punishment for the day and freely indulge in profiteering.

The weekly bazaars spread all over the city have also lost their effectiveness, These bazaars are now either auctioned to the highest bidders or organizers appointed on payment of a hefty fee. The organizers in turn increase their prices to make up the loss in profit. This makes such bazaars counter-productive.

Although godown and cold storage owners are required to declare their stock regularly under the law to guard against hoarding for creating artificial shortage, unfortunately most of grain godowns are concealed in the residential houses of Jodia Bazaar to avoid declaration.

This situation makes them immune from physical checking due to a lack of effective checking organization. The price controllers depend on the figures provided by 'arthis'.

Consequently, most of the essential stock remains undeclared. Godown owners sit happily watching the legal battle on jurisdiction between the city government and the Building Control Authority. Suggestion to establish a 'grain mandi' area along the bypass has remained unheeded.

Although the 'law of supply and demand' regulates the prices but it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that the smooth function of this law is not distorted by unethical traders creating artificial shortages.

For this purpose the government has promulgated the Price Control Act, Food Act, Declaration of Stock and the Agricultural Produce Market Act, but an effective machinery to enforce these laws are conspicuous by their absence. With a view to achieving certain amount of price stabilization following steps may help at the inter-provincial level.

First, there should be an effective organization of experts to be able to acquire, collate and analyze the situation of supply and demand in their areas and suggest a realistic price base for essential commodities. The evaluated whole-sale and retail prices should be disseminated to all the trading centres, the Price Control Authority and market committees.

Regarding fruit and vegetable, particularly for Karachi which is a major market, a monitoring/organization must be placed on all the entry points of the city to assess the quantity of essential commodities being brought to the wholesale grain and sabzi mandi.

All the trucks and transports bringing commodities to fruit and vegetable market should pass through the existing weigh bridge to ascertain the volume of supply. But the most important aspect is to ensure that a fair and transparent auction takes place in the market according to the provision of APM Act instead of concealed bidding and underhand deals which result in indiscriminate fixation of price level.

It is a well-known fact that the market committee staff has not been able to enforce transparent auction as per APM Act, because of the powerful 'arthis' and 'patharedar' mafia.

In fact, they cannot be absolved of complicity in the matter. With a view to breaking this malpractice and ensuring transparency. administration should place a strong team consisting of public representatives of the city government and law-enforcing agencies.

Since most of the suppliers reach the mandi during the night and auction starts early between 3 and 6 a.m. the supervising team and the enforcement group should be in place well in time.

If the administration succeeds in breaking the mafia by eradicating the illegal practice of concealed bidding and enforce transparent auction, this one single act will not only enable the growers to get their rightful due but will also benefit the consumers by keeping the prices at the correct level.

It is the middle man i.e. contractors and Arthis who get the major piece of the cake. Provision of reliable statistics will enable the price fixation committee to discourage profiteering at the whole sale and retailers level.

The crux of the problem lies in effective enforcement of the prices fixed by the administration. Measures taken in past have not been effective. Firstly the complaint centres do not effectively cover all the market areas.

The number of enforcement staff having limited magisterial powers is like a drop in the ocean. There is need to create a team in each locality comprising selected retired government servants having legal knowledge under the DDO as a vigilance group to cover a wider area of retail shops. This team be awarded honorary magisterial suo moto powers to check and award on the spot punishment to the profiteers.

Last but the most important aspect of price stabilization is the necessity of taking the consumers into confidence. They should be informed regarding the reasons of short supply.

The consumers must know the seasonal fluctuations of supply position, reasons of short supply of some of the essential Iftar and Sehri items. In this regard media should play a leading role in reminding the consumers the true spirit of Ramadan.

The emphasis of 'Rozadars' should be on self-denial and spiritual reinforcement rather than rituals of sumptuous Iftar parties. Consumers should be advised to adjust their Iftar and Sehri menu keeping in view the supply position and constraint on their financial resources.

Thus the radio and TV networks and the print media can very effectively help in creating an atmosphere along with their usual coverage highlighting profiteering and weakness in the enforcement of administrative machinery.

(The writer is the former Chairman, Price Stabilization Committtee, Sindh)