SWABI: The vegetable vendors here continue to violate official price list, overcharging consumers at their own free will as the district administration has failed to prevent them from profiteering.

The consumers complained that vendors purchased vegetables from farmers at low prices daily and sold them at high rates.

They said garlic was being sold at Rs800 per kilogramme as against the official rate of Rs250-300 per kg.

Similarly, they said rates of Chinese garlic, white pumpkin, cauliflower and cabbage were over and above the official prices. They added the official prices of three categories of tomatoes ranged between Rs140-160, Rs120-140 and Rs100-120 per kg, but the vendors were selling it at Rs160 to Rs180 per kg.

They said the official price of two categories of onions was Rs100-150 and Rs50-60 per kg, but traders charged consumers Rs150 per kg.

Likewise, the vendors didn’t observe the official rates of three types of potato in the markets.

Kachaloo (yam) price was officially fixed at Rs100-150 per kg, but, its ordinary variety was being sold for Rs150 per kg.

The price of bean is Rs150-170 per kg, but it is sold at Rs200 per kg and okra is sold at Rs150 per kg instead of Rs100-120 per kg.

The consumers are also forced to pay more than the price list for chili, radish, cucumber, turnip, bitter gourd, carrot and others.

It was also learnt that consumers in far-flung areas were exploited by vendors more than the district headquarters.

When contacted, an official in the district food controller’s office told Dawn by phone that two teams had visited Topi city markets, and fined the violators of the official price list.

Meanwhile, a five-day anti-polio campaign began here the other day, officials said.

They said 302,666 children under age five would be vaccinated across the district by 1,188 teams constituted by the health department.

They said strict security arrangements had been made for the vaccinators.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2023