KOHAT: The tehsil municipal administration (TMA) here has decided to fix prices of fruits and vegetables every morning which would be applicable in the entire district.

A meeting held in this regard was chaired by chief municipal officer Javed Amjid, and attended by tehsil nazim Malik Taimoor and naib nazim Shahid Mehmood to resolve the issue. Prominent contractors, including Tariq Afridi, Ahmed Aleem, Gulzar Khan, Luqman Khan, Ali Rehman and Mohammad Shehzad, were also present on the occasion.

After lengthy deliberations, the meeting decided in principle that the prices of all items auctioned by the government contractors would be applicable in the private as well as official fruit and vegetable markets in the district.

Meeting decides same prices to be followed in the entire district

The CMO also nominated an employee who would convey the written official prices to the private market early in the morning after the auction of items.

The shopkeepers buying fruits and vegetables in the government market had to pay up to Rs200 as transportation charges on bringing the commodities to the city after auction because the market was situated far from the city on Bannu road. The private market is located in close proximity to the city’s main bazaar therefore the traders working there had to pay maximum Rs50 for shifting the vegetables to their shops.

The contractors of the government-owned market had been complaining that two different rates of fruits and vegetables were being issued in Kohat which was resulting in loss to one party.

Meanwhile, the contractors asked the TMA officials to ensure cleanliness in the market, complete construction of the remaining shops and provide sheds to the temporary sellers.

Mr Amjid asked them that if they were in a hurry they should construct the sheds and shops on self-help basis because the government would do it after preparing PC-1 and fulfilling other legal obligations which would take time.

A TMA official, Imtiaz, told Dawn that practically two markets could not exist in one district, but an owner of private market had obtained stay from a court while taking the plea that if more than one bus stand could operate and banks could also exist then there should be no restriction on the private market or several markets.

The government market, which was to be completed by 2011, was left incomplete by its contractor. The TMA completed it from its own resources and some money given by the contractor.

The importers of fruits and vegetables from other parts of the country also agreed to start business there in 2015 after construction of 89 of total 107 shops, but still some necessary constructions had to be made.

Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2015