July 31, 2006	Monday	Rajab 4, 1427

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LAHORE, July 30: On reports that some big traders in the poultry business have asked hatcheries to limit their production, the City District Government Lahore has stiffened its stance on the chicken price issue and told the Pakistan Poultry Association in clear terms that the movement of poultry products out of district may be banned if it does not come to terms.

To make the message clear, DCO Muhammad Ijaz also directed raids and arrest of the big fish responsible for the increase in the chicken price.

Led by EDO (Revenue) Malik Muhammad Bakhsh, special magistrates on Sunday accordingly conducted 215 raids at various chicken markets and shops in the city and arrested 76 wholesalers and retailers who were charging their customers more than the fixed chicken meat price of Rs110 per kg or for short-measuring.

Two big traders were taken into custody from Sheranwala Gate chicken market and sent behind bars for 15 days each for making small retailers to sell chicken at high prices by supplying them birds at inflated rates.

Nine others were held on the GT Road and in Baghbanpura, Cantonment and other areas and were handed down seven-day jail term, besides being made to pay Rs10,000 fine each.

A total of Rs312,000 was recovered as fine during the raids.

The CDGL officials say a union council nazim and a couple of others involved in the poultry business have been hijacking the pricing system by bringing their bird-laden trucks in the market and fixing the rate on their own, besides introducing speculative trading.

These ‘mafia-people’ approached district nazim Mian Amer Mahmood on Sunday to seek his help in settling the issue, they add.

The officials say they have calculated that the per kg cost of birds cannot be more than Rs65 and charging their Rs20 per kg profit the suppliers should provide it to retailers at Rs85 per kg, which was actually the rate before the bird flu scare.

So fixing the retail price at Rs110 per kg is not unrealistic and rather it provides a more than fair space to the poultry farmers to cover their losses they had incurred during the bird flu panic, they say.

There are reports that some poultry farmers have dispatched their produce to the NWFP in a bid to fetch better prices, creating a shortage in Lahore where most of the chicken shops remained closed.

The officials say the price may be settled at Rs115 per kilogram after negotiations.

The DCO believes that the measures being taken by the CDGL will change the situation within a couple of days. He is ready to review the prices on a weekly basis, as a committee has already been formed in this regard. But he is not giving in to the argument that the chicken prices should be decided by market forces on the principle of demand and supply, an exception not available to mutton and beef traders.