RAWALPINDI, Jan 12: The stall-holders at the fourth all Pakistan industrial exhibition have termed the first week of the exhibition a total failure owing to low sales, exorbitant rates of stalls and mismanagement of the authorities in organising the event.

The exhibition has been organised by the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) at Shamsabad.

Talking to Dawn, a number of stall-holders and visitors said the organising authorities had made little improvement as compared with the previous exhibitions.

“The charges of stalls range from Rs18,000 to as high as Rs95,000 for 22 days,” said Khurram Ali, a stall-owner from Faisalabad. He said the authorities also charged them Rs12 per day for each table, on which they displayed their products. He also complained that there were no fixed charges of electricity, and at the end they could be charged Rs5,000 to Rs30,000 according to the size of the stall. He said they would also be charged for the structures of the stalls.

The stall-holders also have to provide salaries and daily wages to the salesmen numbering from three to eight in addition to meeting other expenses, while the buyers turnout is pathetically low, he said.

Gulzar Ahmad and Shehzad, who owned a ready-made garments stall, said they had paid Rs45,000 as stall charges, but the sales were Rs 4,000 only. They said compared with the Shamsabad stall, their daily sales at the Lahore and Sialkot exhibitions remained as high as Rs50,000.

Pehalwan Chacha of Lahore, who owned a food stall, said he would have to pay Rs95,000 as rent of the stall. “With electricity, labour and other charges, the expenditure could swell to Rs220,000 at the end, but the sales have not yet crossed Rs 8,000.”

He also complained that the RCCI had first promised them that all the food stalls would be arranged in a single queue, but later on some favourite people were awarded stalls in front of his stall, which seriously affected his business.

The stall-owners said there was a big difference between spectators and buyers, therefore, the number of visitors did not mean the numbers of buyers. They said most of the people just come for window shopping.

Almost everyone at the exhibition complained of absence of clean drinking water, washrooms and mosque. Some people complained of quality of water, while some food stall-holders accused the water tankers of grabbing money for providing them water. “There are no latrines for the stall-holders or the visitors, and we have to go to the stadium, where each person is charged Rs5,” said the stall-owners.

A cup of coffee, which was available at Rs10 to Rs15 in the local hotels, was being sold at Rs20 at the exhibition. Amjad Sethi, a stall-holder, said a bottle of Pepsi was available at Rs15, while a breakfast could consume Rs30 to Rs40 and added that it was impossible for him and the other stall-holders to meet their food expenses.

Interestingly, more than 95 per cent of the public stall- owners, when inquired, said it was their first experience and they did not know about the problems. A majority of them said they would never come to the exhibition in future.

The visitors and the buyers also complained of the quality of products and their high prices as compared with the markets. Roshan Ara, a house wife, said she purchased a water set from the exhibition at Rs750, but the same was available at Rs250 at Bara Market.