ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has shown great concerns over the sharp upsurge in prices of daily food items before the start of Ramazan and called upon the government to take urgent remedial measures in order to save the common man from further troubles.

Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, ICCI said in a statement here on Saturday that  government had shown commitment to implement its writ for controlling prices, but the prices of essential food items have increased significantly across the country, which should be a cause of concern for the rulers.

He stressed that government should take all required measures to ensure sufficient supply of all food items in the market in order to curb price hike.

He said that as per survey of Sensitive Price Index (SPI), prices of 20 food items have increased due to which people were facing great difficulties. He said prices of many food items including tomatoes, onion, potatoes, eggs, bananas, pulses, mutton, beef, sugar, rice etc. have witnessed significant increase across the country due to which the common man was facing extreme problems in meeting day to day needs of life.

He was afraid that if government did not take urgent remedial measures, the prices of food items would further go up in Ramazan bringing more miseries for people. He urged that government should activate price committees and special price magistrates in markets to keep the food prices under control and announce for people a special Ramazan package in order to provide people some relief.

Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President ICCI said that controlling unjustified hike in food prices was the basic responsibility of government and urged that government should play its due role in this regard.

They said government should take strong measures to control hoarding and all other cause of price hike in the country. They assured that ICCI was ready to cooperate with ICT administration for controlling prices of food items in the city.