Sindh Minister of Bureau of Supplies and Prices, Shoaib Bukharis fascinating comment on refraining from purchasing fruits during Ramazan as a way of punishing profiteers from charging exorbitant prices smacks of the "ignore it, it will go away" mentality that the previous government was blamed for.
Specifically, it is reminiscent of the preceding administrations issues with sugar shortage leading to shooting prices, ultimately ending in expensive imports from Brazil. Advice concerning less consumption of sugar had cropped up at the time, much to everyones irony-laden amusement. That advice, however, may have been legitimate as the problem was a supply-demand issue and not an administrative one, as is the present case.
As part of the administration, one of the Bureau of Supplies and Prices chief duties is to develop strategies to effectively regulate prices for a recurring, short term, Ramazan-specific problems; advising consumers to simply stop eating as much falls short of their administrative duties.
While this in no way means that the average citizen should not take steps to protect his own rights and participate in reducing societys impairments; it hardly absolves the government from taking concrete and definite actions against a consumer rights problem that it very well knows, exists.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.