Punjab Food Minister and Cabinet Committee for Price Control Chairman Bilal Yasin has warned the administration to strictly observe the standards of quality and weight of all the items to be sold in 'Ramzan Bazaars' being set up to facilitate the faithful in the sacred month of Ramazan. Onion, potatoes and tomatoes need to be fulfilled through production from Punjab, Sindh and KPK besides importing these items from Afghanistan and India, the Minister said and hoped that availability of these items in abundance will not only bring down the prices but also ensure quality.
The minister was chairing a meeting of the Price Control Committee at the Civil Secretariat on Wednesday which drew in the secretaries of Livestock, Food, Industry, Health, Information and Agriculture and the Lahore district co-ordination officer, the food authority director general and the intelligence and Bureau directors. The Punjab agriculture secretary also told the meeting that the government would be extending a Rs 10 per kilogramme subsidy on mash, kilogrammes and basin while sugar would be sold at the rate of 52 per kilogramme in a packing of two kilogrammes maximum. He said subsidy on chicken meat would also be given in these bazaars.
The minister then urged the administration to ensure provision of daily use items in these special markets at all cost besides keeping a vigilant eye on prices and that hoarders and illegal profiteers would never be tolerated. He also said strict steps would also be taken to stop the sale of dead animals in the city and butchers involved in this heinous crime would not be spared. Lahore District Co-ordination Officer Usman Yousaf told his audience that a campaign against those selling dead animals was in the process and that the city administration launched crackdown against 70 butchers during last few days and arrested 23 of them besides levying heavy fines.