24 held over profiteering

LAHORE : The price control magistrates arrested 24 shopkeepers and sealed various shops over profiteering and hoarding in a crackdown launched across the provincial capital by the district administration.

On the directions of Lahore Deputy Commissioner Rafia Haider, more than 1,336 sale points and shops had been inspected during the last 24 hours, while legal action was taken against 145 points. A spokesperson for the district administration told the media on Saturday that cases were also registered against 35 shopkeepers over violation of the rules and 98 violators were imposed fine. A comprehensive report was presented to the deputy commissioner regarding performance evaluation of price control magistrates of the provincial capital. It revealed that Price Control Magistrate (PCM) Usman Akram checked 46 sale points during the last 24 hours, while Zubair inspected only 13 sale points during the same period. The report revealed that a total of 41officers conducted field operations across the city to ensure implementation of official prices.