RAWALPINDI: In addition to the Rawat vegetable market, the Punjab government has planned two more similar marketplaces in Shamsabad and Rawal Road to eliminate the role of middlemen and to bring down the prices of vegetables by selling them at ‘official rates’.

Initially, these markets would be established at the Civil Aviation Ground on Rawal Road and the parking lot of Shamsabad and would provide retailers with vegetables at wholesale rates so they could sell them to consumers in line with the official rate.

DC says marketplaces to be established in Shamsabad, Civil Aviation ground on Rawal Road

He said that the residents would also be able to get vegetables at the wholesale price without any problem, adding that it was a farmer-friendly initiative of the Maryam Nawaz government.

DC Cheema said that in the first phase, the wholesale markets would provide vegetables and in the second phase, fruit counters would also be set up. According to the official, the traders in the garrison city had to procure fresh produce from the I-11 market in Pirwadhai and the prices in that market were high. He said that there was no wholesale market in the garrison city and after these three markets –including the already-established Rawat market – the people would be able to avail this facility.

After establishing the new fruit and vegetable market in Rawat earlier this year, the district administration had asked all the retailers to benefit from the new market where prices of food items were reportedly 20 per cent lower than in the Pirwadhai market.

Apart from this, the deputy commissioner said that the campaign against overcharging and violation of the official price list had been stepped up in the district and the price magistrates and assistant commissioners imposed fines of Rs516,000 on Sunday. They sealed 31 shops and arrested 31 shopkeepers.

For the Roti price, he said that fines to the tune of Rs185,000 had been imposed on Sunday; 22 tandoors were sealed and 27 bakers were arrested. “The price of Roti is fixed by the government at Rs14 per roti and no negligence will be tolerated in this regard,” he said.

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2024