IN the first week of February 1976, in a pleasantly surprising gesture, some retailers offered to reduce the prices of essential commodities in Karachi. On Feb 2, the Provincial Minister for Planning and Development, Pyarali Allana, announced the details of the voluntary offer. He told newsmen that city traders had agreed to bring down the rates of milk, meat, vegetables, eggs, edible oil, poultry, flour and fruit. The price of farm eggs, which were sold for Rs5.25 per dozen, had been fixed at Rs5 per dozen. Similarly, the rate of loose tea had come down five per cent and traders had claimed to sell branded tea at prices indicated on packages. The prices of lentils (moong, maash, chana, masoor and arhar) were reduced to five per cent, too. Unfortunately, the next day, the media, citing a survey, reported that the small traders of the city had not yet responded to their voluntary reduction of prices of essential commodities as agreed by their representatives. Eggs and poultry continued to be sold at the rates which they were being sold at for the past two weeks. For example, farm eggs were quoted at Rs5.25 to Rs5.30 per dozen. Dal arhar continued to be sold at Rs3.25 to Rs3.75 per seer; dal moong, Rs3 to Rs3.50; dal chana, Rs2; and dal masoor, Rs 3.50 per seer.

Mr Allana appealed to the people of Karachi to keep a close eye on the price trend and not allow the traders to earn undue profits. He said the consumers’ council was being activated and consumers, apart from local authorities, were invited to approach the council in case they found that traders were overcharging.That was not the only issue that citizens were trying to come to terms with that week. On Feb 7, it came to light that in the last five months more than 210 buses out of a total of 819 had gone off city roads for want of repair, causing serious hardships to commuters. There were 819 private and Sindh Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) buses in the provincial capital in August 1975. But a survey showed that only 608 were plying private and SRTC zones. The number of off-the-road buses had been steadily increasing. It was a problem because over two million people commuted on a daily basis by different modes of transport in Karachi which had an estimated population of four million at the time. It prevented about half the population from getting the benefits of public transport.

On the brighter — rather greener — side of city life, on Feb 6, the Chief Minister of Sindh, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, planted sapling of jacaranda mimosifolia inSherpao Gardens to inaugurate the Spring Tree Plantation Week being observed throughout the country complying with the directives of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Those present on the occasion included Provincial Housing Minister, Jam Sadiq Ali, Provincial Secretary for Wildlife and Forests, W A Kirmani, Administrator of the Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC), M A Majeed, and senior officials of the KMC and the Forest Department.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2026