Karachi Commissioner Syed Hassan Naqvi on Monday chaired a meeting at his office with all the deputy commissioners (DCs) and assistant commissioners (ACs) to review the campaign against profiteers.
The meeting reviewed the implementation of the official prices for essential food items. All the DCs briefed Naqvi about their performance in their respective districts. Naqvi stressed the need to intensify action against profiteers to enforce the official rates. The meeting decided on launching a crackdown to especially check the prices of fruits and vegetables.
The ACs of all the districts, along with their teams, will be in field to check the prices of essential food items, with a special focus on fruits and vegetables. The meeting also decided to make the auction system in the sabzi mandi more transparent.
The market committee was directed to play its role in ensuring the administration’s efforts to fix reasonable prices for fruits and vegetables at the sabzi mandi, and to assist the ACs. Naqvi instructed the DCs to beef up action against profiteers.
Headquarters AC Rabia Syed told the meeting that between April 20 and April 26, action was taken against 191 profiteers, imposing fines totalling Rs939,000, sealing 19 shops and arresting two people, while between April 13 and April 19, fines of Rs1.684 million were imposed on 187 profiteers.
Between April 20 and April 26, action was taken against 45 profiteers in District Central, fining them Rs223,000 and sealing five shops, while in District East, fines of Rs110,000 were imposed on 10 profiteers.
In District Keamari, fines of Rs88,000 were imposed on 30 profiteers, seven shops were sealed and two profiteers were arrested, while in District Korangi, fines of Rs183,000 were imposed on 33 profiteers and five shops were sealed.
In District Malir, fines of Rs100,000 were imposed on 24 profiteers and one shop was sealed, while in District South, fines of Rs200,000 were imposed on 37 profiteers, and in District West, fines of Rs330,000 were imposed on 12 profiteers and one shop was sealed.
