LAKKI MARWAT: Sasta bazaars are being set up in Lakki Marwat, Kohat and Oghi to ensure provision of daily use food items on subsidised rates to the people during Ramazan.

In Lakki Marwat, the district administration decided to set up sasta bazaars in Lakki city and Serai Naurang town.

The decision was taken in a meeting held at the district headquarters complex, Tajazai, on Saturday.

Deputy commissioner Jehangir Azam Wazir presided over the meeting which besides others was attended by the tehsil municipal officers, officials of food and revenue departments and representatives of traders’ organisations.

Suitable venues were also selected for the bazaars with the consultation of municipal authorities and traders.

The deputy commissioner asked the TMOs to make special arrangements at the selected venues for both traders and buyers.

He directed price magistrates to visit the bazaars and markets daily and ensure availability of foodstuffs on controlled rates.

In Kohat, the administration and the business community agreed to establish sasta bazaars in all the four tehsils of the district and provide food items on subsidised rates to the people during Ramazan.

Deputy commissioner Matiullah Khan while chairing a meeting on Saturday urged the business community to lower the prices of the items by 20 per cent.

The meeting was attended by assistant commissioners of Lachi and Kohat and additional assistant commissioners.

Yousuf Khan, the president of Shahbaz Gul Vegetable and Fruit Market, and other members of the business community also attended the meeting and said that

they would provide 10 to 20 per cent rebate on items to the people during Ramazan.

The DC said that they should submit the rate lists to the administration so that they could be issued to the retailers for the convenience of people.

In Mansehra, the Oghi tehsil administration inaugurated a sasta bazaar where venders and shopkeepers would sell fruit, vegetable, pulses, flour and other daily use items on subsidised prices.

“This Ramazan bazaar is the first of its kind in the entire Hazara where people could buy essential food items on reasonable prices,” assistant commissioner Babar Khan Tanoli told the inaugural ceremony held in Oghi on Saturday.

Tehsil nazim Raja Basharat and office-bearers of traders body Ishtiaq Ahmad, Gul Badshah and Haji Pervez also attended the ceremony.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2019