MANSEHRA: The price of a 40-kilogram wheat flour bag on Sunday jumped to Rs6,300 from Rs5,800 in the Mansehra city and its suburbs with the commodity being sold for Rs6,500 per 40kg in remote parts of the district.

“The district administration and the food department have failed to check soaring prices of wheat flour as a 20kg bag is being sold for Rs3,150 in the bazaars,” Arif Rajput, a local resident, told reporters.

He said the district price review committee, which is headed by the deputy commissioner, was lying dormant amid a steep surge in prices of food items since the start of Ramazan.

“Shopkeepers are charging the consumers prices of their own as the district administration, which is supposed to determine prices every month, has failed to do so for last many months,” Mr Rajput regretted.

He said beef with bone was being sold at Rs700 per kg and boneless at Rs900 per kg.

Resident Ajmal Khan said fruit and vegetable prices had also been increased since the start of the fasting month as tomato, which was sold at Rs60 per kg before Ramazan, was now available at Rs120 per kg. “Garlic, which was sold at Rs400 per kg, is now being sold at Rs800 per kg,” he said.

He said apple was being sold at Rs450 per kg.

RETAINING WALL: Transporters and traders on Sunday demanded of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority (KPHA) to build retaining wall along the Mansehra-Oghi Road.

“The artery has developed cracks and ditchers due to absence of a retaining wall,” Mohammad Nawaz, president of the Oghi transporters’ union, told reporters.

Flanked by leaders of traders, he said sewage flowed on the road as sewerage lines were choked.

Haq Nawaz Hassanzai, an office-bearer of Oghi traders’ body, said owing to the road’s dilapidated condition the drivers of heavy vehicles charged extra money from traders while transporting goods to them.

They asked KPHA to immediately construct the retaining wall to avoid landslides and damage to this main artery, which links Mansehra with the neighbouring Torghar district.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2023