KARACHI, Oct 8: A Consumer Rights Council (CRC) is being set up in Sindh to monitor the production, import, supply and demand position of all the essential items in the province and to keep the people informed about these goods on day to day basis.
The proposed Consumer Rights Council will be structured on the lines of Citizens Police Liasion Committee (CPLC) and will have under it 'resistant councils' that would include members drawn from the civil society, housewives and other civic organizations. These councils will be mobilized to resist consumption of any good or goods found to have been made expensive artificially.
"Fixing prices and strict administrative enforcement dry up supplies and lead to corruption," Salim Khan, the Additional Chief Secretary of the Local Government Department said in light of the decades of experience in handling the sensitive issue of prices.
On Friday afternoon, Salim Khan made a detailed presentation of a plan to set up CRC and allied bodies to the Governor of Sindh Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan in which Wasim Akhtar, the Sindh government Adviser on Local Government and city Nazim was also present.
The meeting gave a formal consent to the formation of a CRC which will operate from the Governor House like the CPLC. The CPLC also operates from the Governor House, and to a certain extent, has been found to offer some relief to the citizens when dealing with the police.
Under the plan, a Consumer Research Council will also be formed and is expected to be out sourced to the Applied Research Economic Council of the Karachi University.
"The main purpose of these consumer bodies would be to regularly monitor the production, supply and demand position and coordinate with other civic bodies to collect all the relevant information and keep people informed," Salim Khan said.
The City government would be asked to carry out a survey of warehouses, godowns and wholesalers in the city and ensure a steady supply of the information on storage of grains and pulses.
Under the law, all merchants dealing in food grains are supposed to furnish a weekly statement of grains with them to the Food Department. But with the course of time, the Food Department has become corrupt and incompetent.
How the City Government will be competent and upright in gathering information on storage of food items in the warehouses and with wholesalers at a given time is a question which at present has no answer.
It is doubtful if the City Government knows that private residences and apartments are also used for warehousing and godowns which is a violation of the municipal laws.
The Governor House meeting on Friday also decided to have two more Sabzi mandies, one on the National Highway near Ghaggar Railway Pathak and the other on RCD highway near Mochko.
At present the only Sabzi Mandi is loacated on the Superhighway where Salim Khan and his team members in a very recent survey found that commission agent groups, Mashkhors and retailers determine prices.
The government team found that as vegetables and fruits start coming in the Sabzi Mandi from upcountry, the auction begins from one in night. The Commission agent charges 5 to 8 per cent, Mashkhors 10 to 20 per cent and finally retailers offer these goods at 80 to 300 per cent higher prices.
A specific instance is given about a 15 kg apple crate that was auctioned at Rs285 (Rs19 a kilogram) while its retail price was found to be Rs60 a kilogram. There are such specific instances of tomatoes, onion and other items. The plan also takes up the pricing of beef, mutton, poultry and buffalo milk for which different versions are available.
"A representative Consumer Rights Council can take up a realistic approach of the pricing of beef, mutton, poultry and milk with the representatives of respective trade and those from the civil society," Salim Khan said.
The government plan for the consumers proposes the revival of an abattoir set up at a cost of Rs30 million near Landhi in 1970. Equipped with machinery and equipment, this abattoir could never be used because of the reservations expressed by religious leaders.
But mechanised abattoirs are in use in Saudi Arab, UAE and many other Muslim countries. The Landhi abattoir can be put to use after making suitable changes. In fact there is a need to establish a few more mechanised abattoirs in other parts of the city.
There is also a proposal to set up dairy villages near the city to become source of milk supply and dairy products. Thatta, Badin and Hyderabad have been identified as the possible areas where such villages can be set up.
For last many years, nay decades, a consumer in Karachi is forced to pay 80 per cent to 300 per cent higher prices on vegetables, fruits and other essential items because of a highly distorted marketing system.
Located more than 100 miles away from the agricultural producing areas, with a market of 14 million, Karachi remains the most lucrative and easy hunting ground for all those who seek easy and quick money. Government's intervention to tackle supply and pricing issue administratively has proved to be a boom for the corrupt officials and unscrupulous traders.
Ramazan is a month which provides opportunity to the unscrupulous traders to make quick money. All political parties make piecemeal and cosmetic efforts. These parties set up fair price shops which serve no purpose.