ISLAMABAD: The capital administration collected more than Rs2 million in the first eight days of Ramazan through fines imposed on profiteering, substandard edible items and unhygienic conditions.

Legal action has also been initiated against 700 shopkeepers for violating the prices determined by the administration for grocery and green grocery items.

The administration has not generated such high revenue from fines in one year in the history of the capital that it has in the first week of Ramazan.

Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat told the press that the administration has imposed a record-breaking Rs2.7m worth of fines. The fines were imposed after 1,700 grocery, fruit, vegetable, milk and yoghurt and meat shops all over the capital were inspected, he said.

He added that 700 shopkeepers were also apprehended and legal action initiated against them.

A senior capital administration official said that the cases against the shopkeepers are being heard in the court of the assistant commissioner and magistrate.

He added that the campaign against profiteering in the city was aggressive, but violations of prices fixed by the administration are continuing. He said the campaign has also led to differences with the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI).

The official said that the administration cancelled the prices of edibles, particularly green grocery items, available at the weekly market operated by the MCI. The situation deteriorated after a capital administration official visited the H-8 market on Sunday and found massive price violations.

The local police was then called and arrested dozens of officials from the market. MCI officials have been protesting in various areas since, he said, and the weekly market was not properly opened on Tuesday in protest.

Police spokesperson Inspector Khalid Awan told Dawn that the police did arrest a number of officials from the market but they were all later released. He said the arrests were made on directives from the capital administration for encouragement and profiteering.

The administration has fixed prices for more than two dozen essential grocery items, as well as meat. The prices of green groceries are fixed every day, and a team has been constituted in this regard to visit the I-11 fruit and vegetable market and supervise the auction of goods.

The deputy commissioner has also constituted a dozen teams to check the capital’s 109 markets and shopping areas in urban and rural parts of the capital. The teams are supervised by assistant commissioners, while magistrates are deputed to inspect vendors, shops, outlets and utility stores, fair price shops and Ramazan Bazaars regarding the sale of essential commodities according to government notified rates, every day from May 4 until the end of Ramazan.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2019