SWABI: Butchers here have been overcharging consumers in violation of the government issued price list.

Talking to this correspondent, the consumers said that the district administration and government had not been resolving genuine issues of people despite making pledges during elections.

The district government has issued the price list and the same is placed in each meat shop, but there is no follow-up to check whether butchers are following the official prices or not.

The administration has set official price of mutton at Rs460 per kilogramme and beef at Rs250 per kg. On Saturday, however, butchers were charging up to Rs600 per kg for mutton and Rs300 per kg for beef. Though officials have claimed that they are strictly checking violations of the price list by butchers, but residents are not convinced.

Mohammad Khan, a resident of Maneri Bala, said that bearing extra burden was very difficult for the consumers who had already been paying higher utility bills.

“It is responsibility of the administration and district government to control violation of the price list,” he said. In Shewa Adda, Fazal Malik said that price hike had exposed the hollow promises of the local government.

Consumers said that meat prices were much higher in Afghanistan, prompting the dealers to transport their animals to the neighbouring country. They claimed that livestock smuggling had been going on unchecked.

LOADSHEDDING: People belonging to different regions here on Saturday said that unscheduled loadshedding had been creating problems for them.

They said that they had not seen any improvement despite claims by the federal government to have increased electricity production.

Gul Nabi Khan, a councillor, said that they had held several times with the Pesco officials, but the company officials were not cooperating to end unscheduled power outages.

Meanwhile, rain here on Saturday turned the weather pleasant and provided the much-needed respite to the people from hot weather. The rain was preceded by dust storm which caused suspension of electricity in several areas of the district for hours.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2016