RAWALPINDI: Tomatoes and onions are being sold at exorbitant prices in the garrison city, with tomatoes reaching Rs300 per kg and onions Rs120 per kg in the retail market.

The commodities are available at all shops across the garrison city, but prices have surged.

Three days ago, onions were being sold at Rs50 per kg and tomatoes at Rs110 per kg. Onions and tomatoes are key ingredients in almost every dish in Pakistani cuisine. Due to the sharp increase in their prices, citizens have questioned the performance of the district administration regarding the monitoring of vegetables and the price fixation mechanism.

The district administration’s price committee issues a daily list of fruit, vegetable and edible item prices, but the sudden increase in the prices of these essential ingredients went unnoticed.

Talking to Dawn, several citizens expressed concern over the surge in tomato and other vegetable prices and urged the government to ensure reasonable prices of daily-use items.

Muhammad Faraz, a resident of Ch. Bostan Khan Road, said he went to a grocery shop to buy tomatoes but was surprised to find them available at Rs300 per kg. He said he abandoned the idea of purchasing tomatoes and bought curd instead to use as a substitute. However, he added that he had to purchase onions as they were an essential item. “The quality of onions is too bad in the whole market,” he said.

Iqrar Ahmed, a resident of Sir Syed Chowk, said onions and tomatoes were usually sold at lower rates during hot weather because such items spoiled quickly, forcing shopkeepers to sell them at reduced prices to avoid losses. “It is strange that such a surge has been witnessed in the market and the district administration has turned a blind eye to this issue,” he said.

“Edible items like wheat flour and sugar are already expensive and now it is the turn of vegetables,” he added.

Muhammad Furqan, a resident of Media Town, said the government was paying no attention to stopping shopkeepers from charging extra prices. He said tomatoes spoil quickly in hot weather, but shopkeepers were still trying to sell them at high rates.

He said the situation was causing inconvenience to people as tomatoes were used in almost every dish. He added that he purchased tomatoes at a higher price because he did not want to waste time searching for cheaper rates.

When contacted, Rawalpindi Sabzi Mandi Association President Ghulam Qadir Mir said there was a gap between demand and supply as a shortage of tomatoes had been witnessed over the last two days. He said retailers had to purchase tomatoes at higher rates from the wholesale market. He added that prices would decrease once the supply improved.

He said a new onion crop would arrive soon and, before that, wholesale dealers wanted to sell their existing stock. “It is the duty of the government to improve supply from different cities and force wholesale dealers to bring supplies to the garrison city, as there is a crop of tomatoes and onions in the region while supplies are also coming from other cities and provinces,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2026