Rawalpindi:
It is estimated that 70-80% of groceries in the district of Rawalpindi have suspended sugar sales, promoting prices in the city center to between RS190 and RS200 per kilogram, already RS210 in peripheral areas.
Many merchants, although they have stock, have now reserved sugar for long -standing clients, refusing to sell to unknown buyers due to the threat of strong fines, challans and store closures. The shortage has worsened even more amid of celebrations of Independence Day and holidays.
Salim Pervaiz Butt, the president of the Association of Registered Merchants, says that merchants are prepared to sell sugar to RS173 per kilogram, provided that the government, through the attached commissioner (DC) and the price control magistrates, are supplied to a wholesale rate of RS165 per kilogram.
“If merchants in the open market are buying sugar at RS176 per kilogram, they cannot sell it at RS173,” he said. “Our only remaining option is to stop selling sugar completely. The government and the DC do not see it as their duty to supply sugar to the controlled rate.
The Administration insists that its only directive is the official price of RS173 per kilogram, and that merchants are free to buy sugar at any price and any source. However, if they are not sold at the official rate, their stores are sealed, strong fines are imposed and legal cases are recorded. “
