President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President All Karachi Industrial Alliance (AKIA), Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister, Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said that slated profiteering across the country before the advent of the holy month of Ramazan which has added to the miseries of the masses. He said that claim of zero load shedding by top officials was a political statement as the situation in the ground is different and masses across the country continue to suffer due to frequent outages.
The Veteran Business Leader while talking to the business community said that 39 percent of the population is already living under the poverty line, rupees has lost its value by 23 percent, inflation which was 5.8 percent in August 2018 has jumped to 9.4 percent in March 2019 but this was not enough to catch the attention of administration.
Despite such grim scenario, the unscrupulous have been allowed to use the arrival of the holy months of Ramazan for making unfair profits on the cost of masses due to inaction by the authorities concerned. The masses are made to see the annual ritual in which some top officials give directions to the district administration to ’remain vigilant’ and discourage profiteers by initiating strict action which has never been applied, he added.
The Former Minister said that the high inflation prior to Ramazan has made many basic food items out of reach for the common man. Now people with limited means which are in the majority are finding it difficult to make ends meet as prices of all basic commodities have skyrocketed.
He observed that the tool of artificial shortage of necessities has being used which has also taken a toll on the masses while all the claims for provision of items of daily use on economic rates to the masses and strict action against profiteers have remained unimplemented due to obvious reasons. The statements about action against the mafia, activating monitoring committees, checking and raids by price control magistrates etc., have proved to be eyewash as the rising demand for edible items ahead of Ramazan the price hike ghost has come out in the shape of profiteers and the hoarders and prices of essential commodities were witnessing considerable increase. Masses feel that a free hand is given to those who see this month as an opportunity to skin masses for profiteering.
The former minister said that prices of necessities fall before the holy month in many Islamic countries, the same happens in western countries before Christmas and at the occasion of Holi in India but it’s entirely different in Pakistan which is very disappointing. The opportunity is used to milk masses reeling under inflation with no relief in sight while the government always rely on flowery statements avoiding any meaningful action to provide relief to the masses which is its responsibility.
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Middlemen must check for hike in agri products: Mian Zahid Hussain
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President All Karachi Industrial Alliance (AKIA), Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister, Mian Zahid Hussain on Friday said that middlemen are responsible for the unprecedented hike in prices of edibles before the arrival of the holy month of Ramazan. People of Pakistan which is an agricultural country will never get fruit, vegetables, milk, meat, and poultry products at a reasonable price unless the ‘Arthi-Mafia’ is discouraged through state’s intervention, he said. Similarly, the farmers will never get the fruit of their labour as long as they are in clutches of this mafia, said Mian Zahid Hussain.
The former minister said that the middlemen operating in the agriculture sector continue to work without any documentation, control or taxes and they are responsible for poverty among farmers and intensification of the issue of food security. The mafia has damaged agriculture sector to an extent that nobody is willing to invest in it which is unfortunate, he said.
The Veteran Business Leader while talking to the business community said that if a broker buys something at the rate of Rs20 per kilogram from a farmer, he sells it for almost Rs100 per kg which is exploitation of grower and the consumer. A margin of 80 to 85 percent cannot be justified under any circumstances, he said, adding that the rising trend of all agricultural products proves that the measures to control prices only exist in books and statements.
There is no mechanism to check the activities of middlemen and there is no limit on their profits which emboldens them to milk producers and consumers. The earning of middlemen cannot be termed as profit but extortion and they would continue to plunder masses as long as the agricultural sector is not documented and they are not controlled.