SWABI: Over a dozen traders were put behind bars and about 300 others find here on Thursday for overcharging consumers, sources said.

The officials of district administration have been taking strict action against shopkeepers indulging in hoarding and overcharging.

The sources said that about 300 traders belonging to different markets had been fined and warned to display the official rate list and desist from overcharging consumers.

The traders of Tordher had blocked the road and staged a protest demonstration three days ago against imposition of fines, but the administration vowed to continue the operation against those violating the official price list and fleecing consumers.

The sources said that Topi tehsil administration officials along with police raided the Tarbela Dam residential colonies and picked up shopkeepers who indulged in illegal profiteering.

They said that the arrested traders had either failed to produce the price list or they were charging more than the fixed rates. The consumers said that it was the first time during Ramazan that the officials of tehsil administration bundled so many shopkeepers into their vans from Tarbela Dam area and took them to police station.

Published in Dawn, July 25th , 2014