KARACHI, Nov 30: The city government has given meat sellers two days’ time to reduce prices to the pre-Ramazan level, otherwise strict action will be taken against those failing to comply with the instruction.
“Raids will be conducted in various city markets if retailers fail to cut prices in two days,” a city government official said.
The Executive District Officer, Enterprise and Investment Promotion, City District Government Karachi, Shah Mehmoood Husain Syed, held a meeting with representatives of the Meat Merchants Welfare Association Karachi (MMWAK) on Saturday. The meeting was also attended by district officers Fashihuddin Siddiqui and Iqbal Nafees Khan.
The Saturday’s meeting could not come to a conclusion due to the absence of the District Coordination Officer, Shafiq-ur-Rahman Paracha, who was scheduled to preside over the meeting.
The city government has also asked the meat merchants to prove the legal status of their association, MMWAK, regarding its registration with a competent authority.
The MMWAK has claimed that it is a registered body, as printed on its letter head. However, the city government has sought legal papers and documents, within the next two days, from the MMWAK members to prove the legal status of the association.
The city administration has claimed that it has been making efforts for the past nine days to fix meat prices at a level that can be affordable for the general public, but so far their efforts have failed to bear fruit. So the ultimate losers are consumers who, till a final decision on meat prices is taken, will continue to pay higher prices, particularly when purchase of meat gains momentum a few days before Eid.
The city government wants to see the price of mutton at Rs130 a kg as compared with the prevailing price of Rs150 a kg, but meat sellers are unwilling to provide relief to the consumers.
Sources said meat merchants again lodged their protest with government officials about frequent raids and arrest of meat sellers over the past 10-15 days.
The sources said at the meeting meat merchants threatened to pull down their shutters in case the price regulators did not show leniency in imposing fines on their members on the “pretext” of overcharging.
Meat sellers argue that it is not possible for them to reduce prices as there is a shortage of animals in the market. They attribute the shortage to stoppage of smuggling of animals from India, animals’ smuggling to Afghanistan and meat export to Gulf states.
The city government has been asking meat sellers to reduce prices as there has been a cut in transport cost following a considerable reduction in diesel and petrol prices.
At another meeting, city government officials asked poultry farmers to bring down prices to Rs50 a kg and Rs52 a kg at wholesale and retail levels, respectively.
Now a live bird is priced at Rs54 a kg at the retail level and Rs52 a kg at the wholesale level. Poultry prices have gone up by Rs4 a kg in Ramazan.
A final decision on poultry prices is expected to be taken on Monday after a meeting of city government officials with wholesalers.
