KARACHI, May 14: Without issuing an updated price list, the city government officials have been on a campaign to fine retailers on the spot for overcharging. The inspection team gives receipts to the offenders, which does not clearly mention the authority that has levied the fine.
The previous price list issued by the CDGK expired on April 15 and since then no new list has been issued. The officials have been forcing the retailers to sell the commodities as per the old list. Owing to the expiry of the price list, majority of the retailers have not displayed the old list in their shops.
Retailers said that there had been a marked difference in the retail prices of previous list and the current retail rates since the prices of various commodities like rice, pulses, flour varieties, and sugar have increased sharply at the wholesale stage.
Adviser to Retailers Grocers Alliance Karachi Farooq Memon said that the wholesalers had already refused to provide the rates and even they had not been attending the meetings with the city government officials. Besides, the rival retailers body – the Karachi Retail Grocers Group - is also against the current price check campaign.
He said the government had provided the rate list of 66 items to the association for the clearance and these rates had arbitrarily been fixed by the government. These rates are 27 per cent lower than the prevailing retail rates in the open market. As a result, he said, the association had rejected the list.
He said that the city government officials escorted by Police all of a sudden arrived at the shops and not only imposed fine but also took the shopkeeper/owner to the Police Station. The minimum fine on retailers ranges between Rs3,000-10,000 per shop depending on the size of the sale outlets.
Farooq said that the price control magistrates had been issuing challans to the retailers on the plea that the new price list had been issued, which was absolutely wrong.
The price magistrates have been forcing the retailers to sell atta at Rs20 per kg while the flour mills are supplying the commodity at Rs23 per kg.
He said that retailers had been asked to sell black gram at Rs54 per kg at retail stage, while it is available at Rs62 per kg in wholesale markets. Similarly, masoor pulse is selling at Rs102 per kg at wholesale and retailers are being forced to sell it at Rs88 per kg.
Another retailer said two kinds of receipts were being issued to the, either an original copy or a duplicate copy for payment to the government. When the officials did not carry the receipts with them they impose the fine and take away the amount by assuring the retailers of providing the receipt later.
The retailer said that nobody knew as to where this amount, received from the retailers, was being used or spent.
In-charge Price Checking campaign and additional EDO Revenue, city government Matanat Ali Khan said that so far Rs2.5 million had been recovered as fine from 1,450 persons from May 2 till now and 90 people had also been sent to jail for overcharging.
He said that the sellers of kiryana items had been the main target as they had been charging Rs25-30 per kg more from the consumers on rice and pulses keeping in view the prices fixed in the previous list.
Mr Matanat said that in case the issuance of new price list was late then the price checking campaign will be carried out on the basis of the old list. He claimed that the campaign, being carried out by 36 officials (18 DDOs and 18 mukhtiarkars), has succeeded in controlling the food inflation. The retailers are even being apprehended for not displaying the old price list.
