PESHAWAR: Javed Khan, a school teacher, finds it hard to earn a decent living for his seven-member family despite working for 12 to 14 hours a day because of the ever-spiraling prices of edibles and utilities.

"In the morning, I teach students in a government primary school and after that I work as computer operator in a private organisation till late so that I could keep my hearth going," says the exhausted teacher.

The tale of every second bread earner of families like Javed Khan is no different, which is mostly about the mounting prices of edibles, which according to the market sources, had witnessed 100 times increase during the last couple of years.

Information gathered from the retail market of the provincial metropolis reveals that the prices of food items, including vegetables and fruits in various parts of the NWFP have increased by 20 to 100 per cent. For example one kilogram ghee that was available at Rs35 in 2001 is now being sold at Rs75.

Similarly, good quality rice per kg was available at Rs25, which currently is being sold at Rs50 to Rs55. The prices of pulses have also witnessed unprecedented surge. Gram is now being sold at Rs50 per kg that was available at Rs25 four years back.

Tea is now selling at Rs280 per kg while its earlier price was Rs230 per kg. Beef is available at Rs150 to Rs180 per kg against its earlier price of Rs70. Mutton is selling at Rs300 per kg against Rs200 earlier. Milk price has, meanwhile, increased from Rs16 to Rs30.

The prices of fruits have also recorded almost 30 per cent to 50 per cent rise during the last couple of years.

Officials say controlling prices of daily items and keeping vigilance over markets were the key obligation of the district administration before the introduction of the devolution of power plan. But the chaotic implementation of the new system of governance at the grassroots level adversely affected this very role of the district administration in maintaining its control over the markets.

This subsequently ended official check over demand and supply mechanisms, leaving local officials in no position to keep prices within a justifiable limit, they explained. Ironically, there was no official mechanism to check or regulate the prices of daily items for the last six years, as it was last year when the NWFP government delegated powers of special magistrates to various district functionaries to enforce prices.

The step was aimed at controlling the escalating prices of daily items, especially food. However, the system slightly worked and remains confined merely to Ramazan.

Masood Fazal, a wholesale merchant of sugar and ghee says the mill owners and their commission agents are the main actors, who determine the prices of edible commodities like rice and pulses. "Since the province is not self-sufficient in food it will have to depend on the manipulated prices being determined on demand and supply rule, he added.

Many also term higher transportation cost as another important factor that pushing up the prices of commodities in NWFP.

Haji Sattar Muhammad, president Food Grain Dealers Association NWFP, cited that the transportation fare of a trailer from Karachi to Peshawar was Rs25,000 to Rs26,000, however, currently it ranges between Rs54,000 to Rs55,000, which subsequently affects the retail prices of commodities.

Smuggling to Afghanistan: Mounting volume of export and smuggling of edibles to Afghanistan during last couple of years are causing price hike in NWFP.

Food grain dealers and exporters complain that the re-building of war-ravaged Afghanistan, besides affecting the prices of various non-food items, had also adversely affected the commodity market of the province.

According to the exporters most of the country's export via land routes is taking place through Customs stations at Chaman, Torkham and Ghulam Khan, but there are a number of other traditional routes for illegal trade.

The population living at the south-eastern provinces of Afghanistan is mainly dependent on the edibles being exported or smuggled from NWFP via these official and unofficial land routes.