HARIPUR: The sasta bazaar has failed to attract customers here.

Inaugurated by the administration at the Family Park with much fanfare, the bazaar was meant to provide kitchen items to the people at the rates less than the market’s during Ramazan.

It had more than two dozen stalls selling ghee, cooking oil, rice, flour, basin (gram flour), pickles, ketchup, chicken, beef, water melon, sweet melon, potato, tomato and onion. Ironically, major fruits and vegetables are not sold keeping the people away.

Within the five days of its establishment, the bazaar hasn’t seen a large number of visitors as expected.

Visitors complain both quality, quantity of food items poor

Many stallholders have already left the bazaar leaving behind the stalls of ghee, cooking oil and pickles, while beef and chicken sellers close shops within hours of the bazaar’s opening as they’re found bringing a small quantity of meat.

The visitors complained that both the quality and quantity of food items were poor.

They said though the rates of tomato, potato, water melon and sweet melon and chicken were Rs5-Rs10 less than the market’s and in some cases, more than Rs20 but they’re of poor quality by and large.

“Why should I cover a furlong to purchase stale and substandard items when I can easily get them near my house,” said Waqas, a customer from Mohallah Ramzani.

He also complained the quality of beef and onion sold in the bazaar was poor. Stallholder Nisar said he’d brought vegetables three days ago but hadn’t sold even five kilogrammes of each of them.

“The vegetables have become stale. I have to either sell perishable items at a lower price or dispose them off,” he said.

He claimed the administration had forced him to shift his stall to the sasta bazaar. Another stall owner said he sold quality cooking oil, juices and pickles at discounted rates but even then the people didn’t show up.

Trader Saeed said wholesalers and big traders had controlled the market and increased rates to be followed by small retailers.

Government employee Naeem said the bazaar had been set up at an area, which was for women, and therefore, it didn’t attract large crowds of people.

He said the bazaar would have been successful had the administration put it up at the training school ground or on the GPO Road and made stallholders sell all kitchen items from vegetables to fruits to beverages to meat.

When contacted, district naib nazim Agha Shabbir Ahmad acknowledged that the bazaar hadn’t attracted customers as they preferred buying things from street vendors disregarding their quality.

He said the administration was planning to take some steps to make the bazaar successful.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2018