Three shopkeepers held for overpricing in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: District administration officials claimed to have arrested 13 shopkeepers in various areas of the provincial capital for overpricing.

The officials said that on the first day of Ramazan, 13 shopkeepers, including butchers, vegetable and fruit sellers and milkmen were arrested from various areas of Peshawar on the reports of overcharging their customers.

Three of the arrested butchers were also sent to jail for selling meat above the government rates.On the first day of Ramazan, the fruit and vegetable prices hiked. The price of tomatoes, which was Rs120 per kilogram a day before Ramazan, jumped to Rs160 per kilogram, showing a 40 rupees increase in one day. Tomatoes were even sold for Rs60 a week before Ramazan.

The prices of other daily items were also increased with the arrival of Ramazan. One Fasihullah, a resident of Gulberg, said that he purchased beef at Rs800 per kilogram in Nauthia on the first day, which was Rs100 more than the price a day before. He said the vegetable sellers had increased prices of different items from Rs30 to Rs80 in a single day.

He said that flour, which was priced at Rs2,800 per 20kg bag before Ramazan, was available for Rs3000 on the first day of Ramazan.He regretted that the government failed to keep a check on the prices, adding that after public complaints, cosmetics measures were taken which did not bring any change.

A vegetable seller on Ring Road, Imtiaz Khan, said that they cannot sell anything below the purchasing price. He said that it was the government responsibility to devise a proper mechanism for it and monitor the prices of such items right from their supply from the farms to the Sabzi Mandi.He said that forcing the shopkeepers to sell these items at a rate below its purchasing price was tantamount to forcing them to close their shops.