TAXILA:Poultry dealers in Hassanabdal continued their strike for the third consecutive day on Friday, reaffirming their decision not to resume the sale of chicken unless the Punjab Food Authority (PFA) stopped imposing heavy fines on them.

A spokesman for the poultry dealers’ association said officials of the PFA visited bazaars and markets on the pretext of checking hygiene and cleanliness in the poultry shops and imposed fines on the dealers ranging from Rs5,000 to Rs8,000.

Lal Khan, a poultry dealer, said the officials imposed heavy fines on them on the pretext of “not observing hygiene and cleanliness.”

Sherzada, another poultry shop owner, said: “We earn Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 daily and if we pay Rs5,000 to Rs8,000 fine, it will not be possible for us to provide bread to our families.”

Saleem Khan, another shop owner, said the PFA wanted the dealers to observe cleanliness condition as per the international standard which was not possible in a small city such as Hassanabdal.

On the other hand, the residents suffered due to the unavailability of poultry products, especially chicken meat.

Besides domestic consumers, marriage hall and hotel owners also faced hardship and had to purchase chicken from other cities such as Attock, Kamra, Taxila and Haripur.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2018