Talking about the efforts required to overcome food overpricing with Mr. Kaukab Iqbal:
PAGE: Tell me something about yourself, please:
Kaukab Iqbal: I am the Founder & Chairman of the Consumers Association of Pakistan. The idea of the Consumers’ Association of Pakistan was initiated while I was in Malaysia on a business trip, where I witnessed World Consumers Day being celebrated with zest and harmony. I was very inspired by this as there was no such association of this sort in Pakistan. I started work on Consumers’ Rights & Protection.
I am also Board Director of Universal Service Fund Ministry of Information Technology Government of Pakistan, Managing Partner- of SKI International Traders, Convener – of FPCCI Central Standing Committee on Consumers’ Protection & Adulteration 2021, Vice Chairman of National Standards Committee- Management System Standards Division(MSSD)PSQCA Ministry of Science & Technology, Member Technical Advisory Committee – Sindh Healthcare Commission, Member Task Force Commissioner Karachi, Lifetime Member – Arts Council of Pakistan, Vice Chairman – Pakistan Economic Forum, President Pakistan Sri Lanka Friendship Association, Member- National Standards Committee on Automobiles (NSC-Auto) PSQCA Ministry of Science & Technology, Member of Amnesty International.
PAGE: How would you comment on food prices in Pakistan in the aftermath of floods?
Kaukab Iqbal: 65 percent of Pakistan’s main food crops including 70 percent of its rice have been swept away during the floods, and 3 million livestock has died. 45 percent of agricultural land has also been destroyed. The such territory is precious in the best of times: of Pakistan’s total land area, less than 40 percent is arable, and land erosion inflicts heavy damage on agricultural land. So it is the root cause that food prices have increased in Pakistan in the aftermath of floods.
PAGE: What is your take on the import of sugar and wheat?
Kaukab Iqbal: We should import sugar and wheat because after floods the situation is worst as a lot of crops have been destroyed and that situation tells us that within some time we won’t have sufficient wheat and sugar, which is the need for daily use. We should issue a tender to import sugar and wheat. But we should be careful that import must be done from any part of the international market where it is available in good quality and at low rates. Usually, it happens that in tender we import at a high price in which higher authorities are involved. Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) must open tenders and make sure that the quantity and quality provided must be better and available at low prices.
PAGE: What is your perspective on overpricing by retailers?
Kaukab Iqbal: In entire Pakistan, no goods are available to consumers at the rates fixed by the government because government departments seem to fail to control it. There is no such mechanism to control pricing. A price List is issued but it’s only for sale. Millions of rupees are earned by selling the price list. Retailers are not afraid to sell the goods at their own rates and earn profit from it. After rain and floods, there is an increase of 35 percent in goods. The provincial government should appoint an honorary magistrate to look into this matter because Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, and related staff are busy with other administrative work.
PAGE: Are the poor being helped by the government when it comes to the prices of oil, rice, wheat, sugar, etc.?
Kaukab Iqbal: Sometimes government gives subsidies for some goods at utility stores. Poor stand in a long queue to purchase goods. Now the situation is different. For some months utility stores sell goods at much higher rates than local markets because of which common consumers face difficulties in purchasing inexpensive goods. Edible oil prices are going down in the international market according to it the price of edible oil should also come down in Pakistan. But till now consumers are being told that cooking oil prices will be reduced by only a few rupees while the importers of oil are earning millions of rupees from the decrease in the global market.