MANSEHRA: People in upper parts of Hazara have complained about the rising prices of essential commodities and transport fares after the recent record hike in prices of petroleum products.

“I have never seen such instability in prices of essential commodities which surged to an alarming level recently,” Abdul Waheed, a general store owner told this correspondent here on Sunday.

A visit to the local markets shows that prices of almost all essential items and passenger transport fares have jumped significantly. According to passengers, the owners of vehicles running on compressed natural gas (CNG) have also increased fares by up to 30 per cent.

A resident Mohammad Arif said that though there was a record inflation triggered by recent surge in fuel prices, it was unfortunate that the district administrations had failed to check traders and transporters taking unjust advantage of the situation.

Say traders, transporters exploiting situation to own advantage

The price of the high quality Basmati rice has been increased to Rs280 per kg from Rs180 per kg, ghee to Rs550 from Rs460 per kg, Channa (gram) to Rs360 from Rs227 per kg, Channa pulse to Rs219 from Rs160 per kg and Masoor pulse to Rs280 from Rs210 per kg.

The price of beef with bones has also been increased to Rs550 per kg from Rs 460 per kg. Prices of fruits and vegetables have seen a significant increase of up to 40 per cent in the local markets in recent days.

PARAMEDICS STRIKE: The paramedical staff is going to launch an agitation against the delay in their promotion and proposed privatisation of health system across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“The provincial paramedical association has decided to launch an agitation against the delay in promotions and proposed pravitisation of health facilities. In this regard, we will observe a complete strike on Tuesday (tomorrow),” paramedical association’s district president Khalid Khan told mediapersons here on Sunday.

He said that the medics would go on strike at the tertiary care facility of King Abdullah Teaching Hospital and rest of the district to register their protest against delay in their promotions and then take part in a sit-in to be held outside the director general’s offices in Peshawar.

Speaking on the occasion, the president of the association at King Abdullah Teaching Hospital Waheed Akram said that in 2018 the government had assured the association that it would ensure promotion of paramedics, but in vain.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2022