People in different cities of southern Punjab, including Multan are facing problems in getting essential commodities of daily use, especially atta and sugar, even after beginning of Holy month of Ramazan, in which the provincial government had claimed to provide sugar, atta and other eatables at affordable rates on a very large amount at utility stores and Sunday Bazars but the situation is entirely opposite.
Long queues were observed at utility stores and Ramazan bazaars and people have had to face lots of difficulty in getting daily commodities of life. People complained that things are either not available or of sub-standard, adding that counterfeit products are being sold and they are not available on government fixed prices.
Shopkeepers are selling things at their own rates and people are compelled to buy things on costly prices. It is observed in the open markets that shopkeepers are not providing sugar to every customer. One of the main reasons of this situation is the conflicting announcements vis-à-vis fixation of sugar price by the federal and the provincial governments.
Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani had announced the sugar price at Rs45 per kg whereas Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif firstly announced Rs 46 and then Rs 47 per kg. Later on during his visit to Ramazan bazaar in Lahore, he announced the sugar price at Rs 40 per kg. So, due to these different conflicting announcements, shopkeepers are confused and they have hidden the sugar in stocks and are not selling it openly.
District administration Multan has provided 10,309 bags of sugar in the market to control the sugar crisis. Apart from sugar and atta, the prices of vegetables, fruits, oil and other things have been also increased to 500 per cent.
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