The constant hike in the prices of food items has severely hit the masses as the government has failed to take any comprehensive administrative measure to control the reckless trend. A survey conducted by the Business Recorder on Friday revealed that only in the last few weeks, manifold increase has been recorded in the prices of essential commodities of daily use such as flour, sugar, rice, vegetables, ghee and cooking oil while the government remained an apathetic onlooker.
One of the major food items in the commodity basket going beyond the reach of the common consumers is ghee that has gone up by Rs 1, 850 per 16kg cane from earlier Rs 1, 750. Source in the ghee industry told Business Recorder that ghee mills owners have created artificial shortage by stocking the raw materials and selling the products keeping in view of rise in prices.
Similarly, retail price of sugar reached to Rs 42 per kg in the capital as well as in other parts of the country too. Common people are finding it hard to survive the surge. Sugar has gone up from Rs 33 to Rs 42 showing an increase of Rs 9 per kg while it reached to Rs 3, 880 per bag from Rs 3, 750 per bag with a clear increase of Rs 130 per bag.
Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) is projecting sugar price as Rs 60 per kg because of 'free smuggling of sugar' and export of Gur to Afghanistan. The price of sugar in Afghanistan is Rs 60 per kg and they wanted to equalise the sugar prices with Afghanistan, which will worsen the situation further. 'The price situation has made the household budget of common men unmanageable as they are struggling to provide 'two meal a day' to their families,' lamented Zareen Khan, standing in a queue at a Utility Store.
Pakistanis have been grumbling about rising inflation for more than a year but in the past few days the price tag of essential items has shocked the consumers going through worsening high price tendency in the markets. Rice and sugar prices have jumped almost out of the reach of the poor segment of the country's society.
Further, Rice, which was sold at Rs 80 per kg is now touching Rs 90 per kg, chilly, earlier sold at Rs 135 is now beig sold at Rs 160 per kg, while basin which was at Rs 50, is now reached to Rs 60. The people of the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad suffering the current up tramp have termed it an artificial shortage created by the wholesalers and retailers, who are looting the financially constrained people openly.