RAWALPINDI: With Ramazan a month away, sugar vanished from the market in the garrison city as shopkeepers refused to sell the commodity at a lower price.

Notices were pasted by most shopkeepers informing people that they had stopped selling sugar.

Price of the commodity had increased in the wholesale market to Rs95 per kg and the shopkeepers were charging between Rs100 and Rs105. As a result, price magistrates started taking action against shopkeepers and asked them to sell the commodity at a price fixed by the district administration.

Some shopkeepers were fined last week while price magistrates registered cases against others with the city police station. Following the action, the retailers stopped selling sugar in their shops and demanded the district administration to fix the price as they would not buy the commodity at high rates and sell it at a lesser price.

Say price of commodity in wholesale markets is high, cannot sell at lower rates

Rawalpindi Retailers Association President Saleem Pervaiz told Dawn that the district price magistrates were imposing fines and registering cases against shopkeepers.

“Sugar price in the wholesale market is fluctuating between Rs95 and Rs97 per kg, therefore, it is not possible to sell it at Rs92. We are selling sugar for Rs100 per kg, charging Rs5 as profit as well as transport charges,” he said.

He said in the last week, prices of pulses and other edibles had increased by Rs20 to Rs30 per kg in the wholesale market but the district administration forced us to sell it on old rates.

“We are constantly requesting the administration to fix the prices of edibles after checking the wholesale markets of the province and other parts of the country and not to impose unjustified fines, but our requests have fallen on deaf ears,” he said.

He admitted that the sale of sugar had been stopped till a new price list was issued, adding that, “we are not responsible for the price hike as the sugar mill owners and wholesale market traders had increased the rate.

When contacted, Deputy Commissioner retired Capt Anwarul Haq said the price magistrates had been working to implement the price list issued by the government and “we would not give any relaxation to anyone”.

He said prices of sugar and other edibles were fixed in line with the wholesale market rates. However, he said, the price of sugar was fluctuating constantly and “we would inspect the market to ensure the supply of edibles”.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2021