MINGORA: The pushcart owners here on Tuesday staged a protest against the district administration for forcing them to sell their fruits and vegetables at sasta bazaar during Ramazan.

They protesters gathered outside the office of tehsil municipal administration and said that the site fixed for sasta bazaar in Mingora was not suitable for selling fruits and vegetables.

“The site for sasta bazaar is not appropriate as it is far away from Rang Mohallah, Malookabad, Watkey, Haji Baba, Makan Bagh, Amankot, Rahimabad, Sharif Abad, Fizagat and many other areas. Secondly, it is a small and congested site where all the vendors cannot be accommodated,” said Hazrat Ali, a vegetable vendor.

Ask district admin to set up the bazaar at suitable place

The protesters said that they could not sell fruits and vegetables at the prices fixed by district administration for sasta bazaar because they bought the items at higher prices from the vegetable and fruit market.

“How can I sell vegetables cheaper than the market rate? I am a poor man and have not come here for loss. The district administration should purchase fruits, vegetables and other food items and we will sell the same for it on daily wages,” said Khaista Rehman, a fruit vendor.

He said that he purchased tomato at Rs80 per kilogram while the district administration fixed its price at Rs60 per kilogram. The protesters said that if district administration and elected representatives should set up the sasta bazaar at a suitable place that was accessible to the residents of all areas if they wanted to provide relief to people during Ramazan.

“The government should establish several stasta bazaars at different points and daily use commodities must be arranged there at subsidised rates. The district administration should not force the poor vendors to force them to sell goods at the sasta bazaar established on Airport Road,” said Dr Khalid Mehmood, a tehsil councillor.

Fazal Hakim, the chairman of DDAC, when contacted, said that the vendors were justified because it was not possible to accommodate all the vendors in the newly established sasta bazaar.

“We will fix different sites for the vendors where they will sell fruits, vegetables and other food items during the holy month of Ramazan,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2019