Admin Takes Steps to Reduce Prices of Daily Items: DC

News Desk

Rawalpindi: Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rawalpindi, Hassan Waqar Cheema, has said that the administration has taken solid steps to reduce the prices of daily-use items. 

He informed me that 50 magistrates were monitoring the prices of food items in Rawalpindi district. 

163 shopkeepers involved in profiteering were arrested in March, he informed. 

The DC said that 15 cases were registered and 14 shops were closed for the sale of substandard items. 

Fines amounting to over Rs 3.5 million were also imposed on the retailers found involved in profiteering, he said, adding that over 30,000 inspections were conducted and nearly 1350 violations were checked. 

Hassan Waqar Cheema informed me that the price of onions in Rawalpindi is Rs 100 less than in Islamabad. 

There is a big wholesale market in Islamabad that is controlled by the Islamabad administration, he said, and he informed me that a market had recently been established in Rawat where the prices of vegetables and fruits were being monitored to provide relief to the citizens. 

Agriculture Fair Price Shop and wholesale market had also been established on the special instructions of the Punjab Government to facilitate the people, the DC added. 

Hassan Waqar Cheema informed us that the citizens were buying the food items at wholesale rates in Ramazan Sasta Bazaar, set up outside Nawaz Sharif Park on Murree Road.