September 11, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 10, 1429

KARACHI, Sept 10: Most vendors and retailers continue to fleece consumers as 54 complaint centres in the city for a population of 14 million appear too few to be effective against price-hike during Ramazan.

Each of the 18 towns has two to four complaint centres, while only a few towns have six centres. Official estimates put the number of complaints, mainly about overcharging by fruit and milk retailers, received at a town office at 12 to 15 a day.

A random visit to different complaint centres, located in North Nazimabad, Paposh Nagar and Hyderi, showed that one or two persons keeping registers and price lists with them were waiting for consumers at the camps. They were virtually sitting idle due to a poor response of consumers.

Officials of the city government cite different reasons for the lethargic response of buyers in lodging complaints against the retailers.

Some officials said people who had been buying fruit and fresh milk from particular shops for years usually avoid taking the trouble to lodge a complaint against their old retailers. Others said perhaps the well-to-do usually did not enquire about the rates. They had enough cash so they did not mind paying huge prices. Besides, officials said that maybe the consumers thought that “nothing is going to happen after lodging the complaint and even if the retailers has been fined a heavy amount or sent to jail.” They said that perhaps retailers felt that the consumers, who had once lodged a complaint against them for overcharging, would not repeat the same exercise everyday.

One official at a complaint centre linked the reason of low turnout to thin arrival of buyers in markets in view of the rising prices of essential items. He said even during the last hour before Iftar buyers did not crowd the markets.

A few officials said they really could not describe the behaviour of society in buying essential items even at higher prices. The city government has displayed banners in various areas, asking consumers to record their protest against profiteering by retailers.

An official at a complaint centre at Civic Centre said that he had been receiving at least 60 phone calls daily from various areas since the beginning of Ramazan. Almost all complaints were related to fruit especially bananas, grapes and melons, he said, adding that there had been no complaint about kiryana items.

A market survey showed that retailers and fruit vendors situated in the vicinity of the complaint centres are either selling items on controlled rate or even below that. In order to justify their claim, officials at the camps in Block M of North Nazimabad asked this scribe to check the rate of fruit, milk and other items in the market.

However, the effectiveness of complaint centres seems restricted to the vicinity where they are located. It is not feasible for buyers living far from these camps to travel long distances to lodge a complaint against overcharging.

Officials at a camp said that there had been no increase in complaints from the consumers since the beginning of Ramazan.

Rates come down

The rates of fruit have started normalising as golden apple price has come down to Rs25 to Rs40 a kilo, grapes (round and sundar khani) at Rs80 and Rs100 a kilo and melon at Rs15 and Rs20 a kilo. However, banana is being sold for Rs40 to Rs50 a dozen which is still higher than the official rate.

Meanwhile, a fine of Rs3.27 million has been collected from about 2,589 profiteers while 186 people had been sent to jails for overcharging since the beginning of Ramazan.