Share this story!            

Sugar disappears, prices rise in Peshawar

* Residents have to buy sugar at inflated prices, as authorities have failed to control commodity’s price despite Supreme Court orders

By Manzoor Ali Shah

PESHAWAR: The city residents have to buy sugar at inflated price as the authorities have failed to control the commodity’s price despite Supreme Court’s orders.

A visit to the city markets on Monday revealed that most of the traders do not have the supply of sugar and citizens are buying it at inflated rates.

Ziaullah, a trader at Ashraf Road, told Daily Times that sugar crisis had aggravated and there was no sugar in the market, while the sugar mills were not supplying the item to the traders.

“I do not have the supply of sugar after Eidul Fitr at my shop,” he said, adding that the mills were not supplying sugar to them after the court orders about its price and a bag of 50 kilogram of sugar was available for Rs 3,000 in black market, though in most of the city parts, one could not get a kilogram of sugar even at Rs 70.

He said that the situation would be clear after October 29, as the Supreme Court had asked the government to come up with a solid policy on the day. He said the crisis would end once the ex-mill price was raised to Rs 40-42 per kg.

A retailer at Gulberg locality in Cantonment area told Daily Times that he did not have sugar at his shop for the past 20 days. The retailer was of the view that buying sugar from the government’s designated points at official rate was not doing any good to the retailers and consumers both.

“We get a bag or two of sugar at per kilogram price of Rs 39.20 after waiting at a dealer’s shop for several hours and then transport it to our shops and a kilogram’s cost touches Rs 40 while most of the times, these bags are less than the standard weight like you find 48-49 kg sugar instead of 50 in a bag,” he said.

He said that in such a situation, how they could sell sugar at Rs 40 per kg as ordered by the Supreme Court, adding that most of the retailers were not willing in selling sugar at this price.

Faiz, a local, said that he bought a kilogram of sugar for Rs 62 from Namakmandi area of the city in black and a huge number of people were present at that shop to buy sugar as the commodity was not available in most parts of the city.

A visit to a Utility Store in Cantonment area revealed that no sugar was available at the store. The store’s employees said that they ran out of the supply, which was 18 bags per day, within hours after opening the shop. They said that most of the people had to return empty-handed after waiting for hours in queues.

On October 23, the Supreme Court asked the government to come up with a policy on sugar price by October 29 and also asked the authorities to ensure supply of the commodity to domestic consumers at Rs 40 per kilogram, “at all costs” until the case was decided.

Home | National

Share this story!