Fruitless campaigns

My earliest recollection of a fruit chaat is the one that used to be sold to large crowds in Saddar in the lane that also housed Capital cinema.

The owner of the stall could not make the fruit chaat quickly enough to satisfy impatient customers who would be swarming around him trying to get a plate of this delicious delicacy made out of a large variety of fruits with bananas and guavas as the mainstay.

What brings back memories of that fruit chaat in this holy month of fasting is not the recollection of its taste but the price.

We all know that no Iftari is complete without a fruit chaat and over the years though prices of fruits have seen the upward trend during the holy month of Ramazan they have not spiraled so out of control as they are travelling skywards today at breakneck speed.

This has come at a bad time because the economy is seeing rough days and the rupee value has also gone down so the increase in prices of fruits has come at a bad time and is not being absorbed or tolerated by the consumers.

The general hue and cry is that fruit sellers are making huge profits and there is a general demand that something should be done about it to protect the consumers. There are two solutions proposed by different groups of consumers.

The more militant wants a complete boycott of fruits so that the fruit sellers have no option but to reduce prices and save themselves from complete loss by having to throw away rotting fruits.

Better said than done. I see complete lack of unity or connectivity among different groups espousing the cause of boycott.

Some want to boycott for a week, some for ten days and some for even three days. There is no central body guiding this forum of protest, so it is more or less a rudderless campaign.

This also shows that in Pakistan and specially in Karachi there are no well-organized popular or forceful consumer bodies that can play a pivotal role in such a situation.

Yes there are some consumer and charitable organizations trying to fill that role but as the fruit crisis demonstrates it is not very effective. In developed countries consumer organizations have properly run secretariats with top lawyers assisting them in case of court cases and ensuring that consumer rights are protected.

The less militant people who do not want to take any action themselves are calling upon the authorities to take some action against fruit sellers.

There is an emphasis on the ancient method of price list issued by the office of commissioner Karachi. We all know that this is merely a ceremonial gesture to appease the people.

Not only fruit markets but all other markets including those for spices, meat and other eatables display the official price list which is flouted openly and under the very shadow of the official price list which keeps fluttering over these shops like a caged bird unable to fly.

Yes there are so-called raids conducted when the noise of consumers become unbearable and negative media reports put some officials in an embarrassing position.

Some shops are sealed, and owners arrested but that usually makes no difference to the market which ignores such gestures as mere irritants and it is business as usual after the raids are over and arrested get out on bail.

This year it is not just the prices that are irritating consumers but the quality of the fruit itself. Most of the fruit are either over-ripe or outright rotten from inside. We got some apples from a highly rated online fruit seller and most of them had to be fed to the crows as they turned out to be totally rotten from inside. It is happening frequently and buying fruits now is playing Russian Roulette with the fruit seller.

Experts say that all this was predictable. The floods damaged crops and vast fields under water were deprived of nutrients and the submerged fruits and other crops were damaged and still sold as the farmers had no other option but to try and salvage their investments. The weather it seems is the ultimate culprit but the worst is not over.

The weather is changing visibly and even in Karachi in the month of April it seems like early winter at night.

How will the rest of the year go and if that other fruit festival where we enjoy delicacies like Langra, Dussehri, Anwer Ratol, Chaunsa, Sindhri, etc., will materialize and be affordable is anybody’s guess.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023