On the occasion, the Chief Secretary said that reservations of trader community on price determination will be addressed to ensure sufficient supplies of daily-use items at the prices fixed by the government. "The government would allay concerns of traders regarding price control mechanism," he added.

He further said that traders' complaints about government departments, especially Punjab Food Department and Punjab Revenue Authority, can now be lodged with divisional commissioners.

All-Pakistan Anjuman Tajran Secretary General Naeem Mir thanked the Chief Secretary and on behalf of the trader community, he assured full cooperation to the government.

Mir told the Chief Secretary that traders are kept out of the process of price determination that takes place at Deputy Commissioner's office and they have reservations over it.

In response, the Chief Secretary assured that in future Deputy Commissioners and traders' representatives would work together to fix prices of commodities and for this purpose a joint meeting would be held after every 15 days.

He said that the rate list should be issued to media after fixing prices with consensus and divisional commissioners would act as appellate authority in case grievances of traders are not addressed at deputy commissioner level.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020