LAHORE: The City District Government of Lahore (CDGL) on Saturday made 30 out of 31 Ramazan bazaars operational, pledging to make efforts to provide quality fruits, vegetables and other commodities at reasonable rates during Ramazan.

The bazaar at Barkat Market in the Garden Town couldn’t be made operational because the venue (a marriage hall) selected for it would be free on June 5.

However, District Coordination Officer retired Capt Muhammad Usman says the one remaining bazaar will be operational on June 6.

“There was a problem in finding a good place for Ramazan bazaar in the Barkat Market area and we decided to hold it in a private marriage hall that would be handed over to us on Sunday (today). This bazaar would be functional the next day (tomorrow),” he told Dawn.

This year, the CDGL increased the number of bazaars to 31 in all the nine town municipal administrations (TMAs) of the city district. Five bazaars each will be held in Gulberg and Allama Iqbal towns, four in Nishtar Town, three each in Ravi, Samanabad, Data Ganj Bakhsh, Aziz Bhatti and Shalamar towns and two at Wagah Town.

On the very first day of the bazaars, this reporter visited a Ramazan bazaar at Mian Plaza (Johar Town Civic Area) and found it operational. There was a walk-through gate with the counter. The officials of police and civil defence were performing the security duty and checking all those entering the bazaar. Since it was the first day, the number of visitors was thin.

“The number of shoppers is low because of the severe heat and lack of information. Surely, it will increase on Sunday (today) just as Ramazan starting from Tuesday or Wednesday,” says a vegetable vendor.

Talking to Dawn, a woman shopper said the prices of vegetables were less than those in the open market.

“I have come from Shadiwal. Tomatoes are being sold there for Rs20 to 25 per kilo. But here, they are available at Rs11. The onion price is also five to fifteen rupees less,” she added.

However, another woman complained about unavailability of meat (mutton and beef) at the stalls at about 12pm.

“Unavailability of meat by 12 at noon shows that the officials didn’t ensure adequate quantity of mutton and beef despite the fact the number of customers is thin here,” she deplored.

Meanwhile, the DCO said all the bazaars would pick momentum from Sunday (today). He said he had visited Shadman and some other bazaars on Saturday.

“In each bazaar, 19 products/items, including flour, sugar, pulses, rice, fruits/vegetables, have been kept in green channel stalls where the prices of these will be further less than other stalls of bazaars,” he added.

LWMC: The Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC), in collaboration with the Lahore Zoo, will observe the “World Environment Day 2016” on Monday (tomorrow) under this year’s global theme ‘Go Wild for Life’.

The activities will plantation, awareness walk, waste picking and art competitions.

Meanwhile, LWMC’s newly appointed managing director Bilal Mustafa Syed paid a surprise visit to various areas across the city in order to review field operations of the company.

Published in Dawn, June 5th, 2016