ABBOTTABAD: Consumers are at the mercy of profiteers here as the complaint centresput up by the district administration have failed to deliver the goods.

They insist the centres only display official price lists for essential items but have no one to receive people’s complaints against profiteering for action.

The consumers told Dawn that the exercise of establishing complaint centres was nothing but eyewash.

They said the district administration and food authorities held meetings ahead of Ramazan and promised to check hoarding of essential items, especially food, and profiteering, but the promise turned out to be false.

Consumers insist complaint centres have failed to deliver in Ramazan

The residents said the artificial price hikes in the current month of fasting had stressed them out amid record inflation.

They said tomatoes were sold for Rs120 per kg ahead of Ramazan, but their price had gone up to Rs180 per kg, while the rates of peas had surged from Rs120 per kg to Rs200 per kg and onions’ from Rs150 per kg to Rs250 per kg.

The consumers said fruits were also hit by a substantial price hike, with bananas selling for Rs350 per dozen against the pre-Ramazan rate of Rs100 per dozen and apples for Rs400 per kg against Rs200 per kg.

They said the divisional commissioner of Hazara ordered the deputy commissioner and other officials to check profiteering and hoarding in Ramazan, but those orders largely awaited action, leaving the prices of essentials to skyrocket.

The residents also complained about the sale of chicken meat, despite a ban.

They also said beef with bones was sold for Rs850 per kg and the boneless one for Rs1100 per kg, while mutton’s rate was around Rs2,200 per kg.

“Rates of everything have doubled since the start of Ramazan earlier this week, with meetings of the district and divisional administrations for price control proving to be an exercise in futility,” a resident told Dawn.

He said “artificial” price hikes led to heated exchanges between shopkeepers and their customers.

The resident also insisted that not only were the consumer complaint centres established by the administration few, but they had also failed to ensure a crackdown on profiteering.

The consumers demanded an effective price control mechanism for their relief in the current month of fasting.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2024