GILGIT, July 13: Profiteering goes on unchecked in the markets of Gilgit-Baltistan, which has hit hard the poor consumers.Shopkeepers charge the consumers at their will as the price control committees have become dormant.

The public has been raising hue and cry over the exorbitant prices but the concerned authorities are least bothered to pay heed to their complaints. “Compared to non-food items, the prices of edible items increase with every passing day”, complained a local, Jamroze Khan.

He pointed out that they were even not able to buy vegetables due to their high prices as tomato was selling at Rs90 and onion at Rs70 per kg.

Another resident, Shamsher Khan, said the price of mutton was Rs400 per kg while beef was selling at Rs300 per kg.

On the other hand, the pricelists issued to shopkeepers have disappeared from the shops with no one to take notice of the anomaly.

The residents of Chilas, headquarters of Diamer district, also complained of high prices of fruits, vegetables and other commodities, saying, mango was selling at Rs160 per kg.

Similar situation was prevailing in the Baltistan region where shopkeepers had hiked prices artificially severely affecting purchasing power of poor consumers.

The residents of Baltistan said they were paying two times higher the actual price of commodities. They also accused the shopkeepers of low weight of the commodities especially edible oil.

The officials of price control committee said they took action against the shopkeepers violating pricelist, which they added, were prepared in consultation with the representatives of the traders and the public.

However, some market experts said the price hike was because officials of price control committees got free of cost things from the shopkeepers and in return allowed them to charge higher rates from poor consumers.

The people feared that the prices of daily use items would further be hiked during the upcoming month of Ramzan and demanded of the government to look into the matter. Senior administration officials were not available for their comments despite repeated attempts.

ASSEMBLY SESSION:

The speaker, Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly, has summoned the session of the assembly on 20 July. The summary in this regard has been approved by the Governor Gilgit-Baltistan Syed Pir Karam Ali Shah.—Correspondent