The Karachi administration’s crackdown on overpricing continued on Saturday, with Commissioner Syed Hassan Naqvi expanding on-spot action.
On the 10th Ramazan, magistrates sold items at official rates at 309 locations, providing relief to citizens. Commissioner Naqvi directed deputy commissioners to take strict action against overpricing shopkeepers, ensuring citizens get relief during Ramazan.
According to the Commissioner Office handout, magistrates checked prices and auctioned items at official rates. According to the report, 267 profiteers were fined Rs226,000, while 31 profiteers arrested and 11 shops sealed on overpricing. Assistant commissioners, Mukhtarkars and magistrates checked items at 1,330 locations in total and auction on official prices was undertaken at 309 locations.
On the 10th day of Ramazan, assistant commissioners auctioned 1,960kg of commodities worth Rs507,788 were auctioned by price magistrates at 309 occasions in Karachi Division, including 1,152kg amounting to Rs259,302 of fruits, 454kg of Rs16,202 of vegetables, 252kg of meat and poultry of Rs215,560 and 102kg of grocery and others amounting to Rs16,724.
On Thursday, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had stated that the provincial government would not tolerate profiteering or exploitation of consumers during Ramazan. He had directed the administration to remain vigilant and responsive to public complaints about overpricing.
The CM had conducted an extensive visit to key commercial areas of Karachi to review the prices of essential food items and ensure strict implementation of the official rate list during the holy month of Ramazan. He was accompanied by Sindh Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, Special Assistant to CM Usman Hungoro, Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, Parliamentary Secretary Dr Bahadur Dahri and Karachi Commissioner Hassan Naqvi.
The visit began at Burnes Road where the CM inspected prices of cooked food items, fruits and daily-use edibles. He checked rate lists displayed at shops and stalls, and interacted directly with both shopkeepers and customers.
“Prices of food items and fruits must strictly follow the officially notified rates,” the CM said, adding that overcharging during Ramazan was “absolutely intolerable”.
After Burnes Road, the CM and his team proceeded to the Empress Market where shopkeepers warmly welcomed him. He checked fruit rate lists at stalls and compared them with actual selling prices.
