LAHORE: The customers thronging the utility stores to get food items for Ramazan are facing multiple problems starting right from the registration process.

The customers, mostly women, gathered outside the utility store at Township in the afternoon to purchase the daily use items. The women queued up in the scorching heat without any shade and no water was available for them.

Some women complained about the ordeal they were facing in the absence of any shade. The doors of the store were closed and no one was allowed to enter.

The federal government has launched the Ramazan Relief Package through the Utility Stores Corporation to provide special subsidies on 19 basic items for the convenience of the people. Discounts of up to 15 per cent are being offered on over 1,500 items available at utility stores. They include ghee, sugar, pulses, flour, edible oil and rice.

In order to discourage black marketing, the management of the corporation decided that the items would not be sold in bulk so that the consumers could benefit from the relief package. The consumers were asked to visit the stores early in the day to avoid rush and bring a copy of their CNICs to avail themselves of the Ramazan package.

A visitor, Ejaz said there was hardly any subsidised item and all products, except ghee, were being sold at high prices. He said the store management was not selling assorted items to the customers and if anyone needed to buy ghee and sugar, he or she would have to buy other items as well.

Muhammad Hanif said a copy of the CNIC was required to be deposited during purchase of any item at utility stores. “The problem arises when the system does not accept the CNIC when any additional item is needed,” he said.

He said the consumers were facing difficulty in purchasing the items and demanded that the system should be improved.

Akhlaq Ahmed said the people observing fast had to wait in the open to get a packet of ghee/ oil and two kg sugar.

Shahid Iqbal said the utility stores administration did not have any better plan to provide relief to the citizens and hundreds of women observing fast were in long queues to get the ration. It showed a lack of planning by the authorities concerned, he said.

Another visitor, Hammad, said he had visited the store to buy oil but he had been asked to purchase full ration or package which would include oil. He said he had already purchased the ration from the market and wanted to get oil but he was not entertained.

Yet another consumer at the store said he welcomed the Ramazan package and said this would provide the much-needed relief to the low-income families.

A woman complained about management’s rude behaviour with the customers. She said they were asked to bring a copy of the CNIC and later found the doors of the store closed on the pretext of unavailability of the internet service.

A utility store official said the government had imposed a condition on the customers to bring their CNICs but most customers did not have the cards. He said the Ramazan relief package items would be given only to the people having ID cards and this was the main reason that the people had to wait for their turn.

He said they first collected the cards of the customers and register them to enable them to avail themselves of the package.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2022