The prices of vegetables, fruits and several other essential have increased in major cities of Punjab due to a myriad of reasons. Consumers have complained that they were forced to buy food items at high prices amid the prevailing inflation, pointing to traders and middlemen as ‘profiteers’. The sale of fruits and vegetables at higher than the officially stipulated prices remained widespread despite the imposition of fines and prosecution by the district administration.
The commodities are being sold at over double the price charged by the farmers. The middlemen buy the produce from the farmers and sell them in the markets through traders.
Market committees apparently fail to keep the auction of commodities in the fruit and vegetable markets in check. The wholesale and retail shopkeepers are not satisfied with the official rates and they charge a high profit.
Source: tribune.com.pk