July 27, 2008	Sunday	Rajab 23, 1429

ATTOCK, July 26: Poultry prices in the city have increased by about Rs40 per cent during the last few days owing to the recent surge in demand and rise in transportation charges.

The price of chicken and egg rose by about Rs26 per kg and Rs22 per dozen as live bird and eggs are being sold at Rs96 per kg and 70 per dozen respectively in the retail market. The price comparison showed that chicken and eggs were selling at about Rs70 per kg and Rs50 per dozen a few days before.

It has been learnt that wholesalers have stopped supplying chicken to the market to earn more money anticipating that the prices would go up further.

A local retailer said the prices had gone up due to big gap in supply and demand. They said generally chicken prices increased in this season owing to bulk buying for wedding parties before the start of Ramazan which is expected in the first week of September. However, he said, the trend would end soon.

A consumer Haji Fazal Karim said the price control committees fixed the chicken prices as per the whish of local whole sellers while the price control agencies seemed helpless to take action against profiteers in the presence of the price lists prepared by the committees.

He said normally egg prices decreased in the summer to Rs24 per dozen but this year it was even higher than in the winter season. Similar increase has also been observed in the prices of other daily-use items after the hike in POL, electricity and gas prices.

Meanwhile, people from all walks of life have slammed the highest ever increase in the prices of petroleum products, CNG, electricity, gas etc. They said instead of providing relief to the people, the PPP government had made the lives of the consumers miserable.

A housewife said the frequent increase in POL prices and energy charges was highly condemnable, adding it pushed more and more people into poverty and created a sense of deprivation among them.

Social activist S .R. Naqvi was of the view that nowhere in the world a democratically elected government can be so insensitive to the people’s plight that it dared increasing POL and energy prices frequently.

Po held: A proclaimed offender (PO), who had earlier managed to evade arrest during an encounter last month, was finally arrested by Attock police.

In a press release issued by the district police headquarters on Saturday, a police raiding team led by SHO Basal police station arrested proclaimed offender Sher Afzal, a resident of Gundakus, and seized an 8mm rifle, a kalashnikov, a hand grenade and 95 bullets from his possession.

The police said Sher Afzal and his son Muqadar Khan, also a proclaimed offender, were wanted by Basal and Jand police stations in six cases of murder, attempted murder, abduction for ransom and terrorism.

Earlier, Sher Afzal had managed to escape when the police raided his village in the mountainous area of Kala Chitta on June 29. However his son, Muqadar Khan, was killed in the police encounter.

The district police officer, Attock, Mohammad Wisal Fakhar Sultan has announced appreciation certificates and cash prizes for members of the police raiding team.

SI suspended: The regional police officer, Nasir Khan Durrani, has suspended the services of in charge Jarikus police post Sub-Inspector (SI) Riaz Ahmed due to his alleged involvement in wheat smuggling from Punjab to the NWFP through the post on Hazara Road, sources said.

The suspended SI has been asked to report to the district police line Attock till further order, sources added.