RAWALPINDI: Despite Punjab government’s claims to provide subsidised meat and chicken to the consumers at 16 Ramazan bazaars, no such stall has been set up in any of the bazaars in the city.

During a visit to Committee Chowk, Shamsabad and Haider Chowk Ramazan bazaars, this reporter found no stall of mutton and beef. The stallholders said butchers had refused to sell meat on ‘unrealistic’ rates.

Mutton is available in the market at Rs1,000 per kg and beef at Rs500 per kg even though the district administration has fixed the price of mutton at Rs700 per kg and beef at Rs350 per kg.

All Pakistan Jamiatul Quresh Meat Welfare Association chairman Khurshid Ahmed Qureshi told Dawn that it was not possible to sell meat at low prices. “We are getting animals at higher rates and it is not possible to sell meat at such a lower price.”

He said the Ramazan bazaars were just eyewash and did not provide any relief to the citizens. “The price of mutton in Islamabad is Rs890 per kg while it is Rs1,000 per kg in Rawalpindi,” he said.

“Butchers are facing problems in getting animals. Mostly, goats, sheep and cows are exported to Turkey, Iran, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia and there is a shortage of animals in the country that is why prices of mutton and beef are increasing.”

He said the district administration had asked butchers to set up stalls in Ramazan bazaars but it failed to agree on a price list. Upon this, butchers refused to set up stalls in the bazaars, he added.

Mohammad Saeed, a resident of Dhoke Khabba, said there was no stall of meat at the Committee Chowk Ramazan bazaar while prices of chicken were same in the Ramazan bazaar and the open market.

Tauseef Hasan, of Satellite Town, said substandard wheat flour was being sold in the bazaars. He said the government should improve the supply of wheat flour in the open market as people mostly purchased flour from retail shops instead of going to the special bazaars.

He said there was no check and balance in the Ramazan bazaars as low quality tomatoes were available there. Mangoes are selling at Rs170 per kg but there is no check on its quality, he said.

A senior official of the district administration said all assistant commissioners and special magistrates were checking the quality of food items.

He said samples of wheat flour had been collected from different bazaars and action would be taken against the sellers if poor quality of the commodity was confirmed.

“We have dispatched the samples to Lahore for laboratory examination and will get the report in a week or two,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2018