Punjab government has so far provided over 6.515 million bags of 10 kilogram flour to the 309 Ramazan Bazaars established across the province out of which over 5.164 million bags have been sold at a price of Rs 290 per bag. According to a monitoring report released by the Punjab Industries Department, the provincial government has provided 48,843 metric tons wheat to the flour mills in the province. Similarly, the government has lifted sugar stock of over 12.022 million kilograms out of which over 9.843 million kilograms were sold at a price of Rs 55 per kilogram in the Ramazan Bazaars.
The report further said that 89,721 kilogram gram of chicken meat was sold at a price of Rs 239 per kilogram till May 29 whereas chicken meat prices remained Rs 249 per kilogram in the open market while eggs were sold at a price of Rs 79 per dozen against the open market price of Rs 84 per dozen.
The report also revealed that onion were sold at Rs 23 per kilogram, tomato at Rs 21 per kilogram, Iranian date at Rs 188 per kilogram, dal chana at Rs 93 per kilogram, Basin at Rs 96 per kilogram, rice at Rs 106 per kilogram and lemon local were sold at Rs 149 per kilogram at the Agriculture fair price shops in the Ramazan Bazaars. All vegetables and pulses were also sold at the wholesale price at the fair price shops.
As many as 1,124 magistrates are performing monitoring duty who conducted 6,224 inspections till May 29, 2019. The magistrates imposed fines worth over Rs 2.244 million on account of overcharging, hoarding and other violations. As many as 72 cases were registered and 66 persons were arrested during the inspection, the report said.
According to the report, 1,937 inspections were conducted for checking of measuring instruments while action was taken against the 72 violators. Moreover, 1875 Dastarkhwans were set up that benefited 123,119 fasting persons till May 29, 2019.
Punjab Minister Industries, Mian Aslam Iqbal has directed the staff concerned to strictly monitor the prices, quality and quantity of the essential items in Ramazan Bazaars and open markets. He also directed for indiscriminate action against those found involved in overcharging, hoarding and creating artificial shortage of the eatable items.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019

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