Cabinet Committee thinks over to stop price hike

Lahore:A meeting of cabinet committee, under the chairmanship of Provincial Minister for Education, Rana Mashhhod Ahmad Khan, was held at Civil Secretariat today to fix the prices of essential items during Ramazan ul Mubarak. The meeting was attended by Provincial Minister for Food Bilal Yasin, Secretary Industries, Secretary Food, Director Food, Commissioner Lahore, DCO Lahore and members of the committee.

The meeting considered proposals regarding provision of essential items at cheaper rates in the market during Ramazanul Mubarak and decided that the Punjab government would set up 350 Ramazan Bazars this year. It was also proposed to arrange one thousand Ramazan Dastarkhan.

The Food and Agriculture Departments Punjab would grant a subsidy of Rs.45 million on the prices of ten essential items including potatoes, onion, dates, rice, basin and grams (daal chana). It was also proposed in the meeting that a subsidy of Rs.100 per 20kg atta bag be given for deserving persons while the amount of subsidy in open market would be Rs.60 per bag. The Chief Minister Punjab would grant final approval to the prices.

As per proposals of cabinet committee, the subsidized atta would be available in the market from July 07 and the committees, constituted by DCOs, would ensure provision of essential items on cheaper rates. A provincial control room would also be set up to keep the prices within the reach of consumers. The meeting was told that as compared to last year, the daily use items would be available at reasonable prices this year. It was told in the meeting that sites for setting up Sunday, Friday and Ramzan Bazars have also been identified besides evolving a system for maintenance of law and order and controlling the traffic.