PESHAWAR: The district administration on Wednesday seized a huge stock of 9,000 kilogrammes of lemon from a local cold storage, arrested and fined its owner for hoarding the commodity.

According to a statement issued here, the stock was hoarded in a cold storage while its owner was fined Rs100,000. The lemon stock was auctioned in the open market to overcome the artificial shortage of the commodity during the month of Ramazan.

Peshawar Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ali Asghar said that the seizure and open auctioning of the lemon would help control the shortage and price of the commodity in the market. He directed his subordinate officials to continue conducting raids on different cold storages to recover the hoarded commodities.

It is to be mentioned here that presently the lemon is sold at Rs400 and Rs450 per kilogramme in the market. The price went up with the advent of Ramazan.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2019