MANSEHRA: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Directorate General of Industries and Commerce has started registration of godowns and stocks of essential commodities across the province to check the hoarding and profiteering.

“Hoarders and profiteers mostly mould market sentiment through creating artificial shortage of essential items to make undue profits. However, the government recently passed rules to check such ambiguities, and has started registration of godowns and stocks across the province,” Sardar Sanaur Rehman, assistant director industries and consumers protection, told reporters here on Sunday.

He said that the government introduced Registration of Godown Rules, 2024 into its earlier Registration of Godown Act, 2021 to check price hikes and hoarding of wheat/flour, edibles, pharmaceuticals, urea fertiliser, cattle feed, sugar/sweets, etc.

“We have started collecting data of all godowns or stocks and their registration to ensure smooth supply of such essential commodities in case hoarders create an artificial shortage to manipulate markets,” Mr Rehman said.

Official says move to ensure smooth supply of essentials in markets

He said that assistant directors throughout the province had been delegated powers to establish the writ of the government to ensure the supply of essential items in markets and check hoarding and price hikes.

Mr Rehman said in the past wholesalers hoarded essential goods such as wheat, wheat flour, sugar, urea fertiliser and even lifesaving drugs to create artificial shortages in the markets to manipulate prices.

“With the enforcement of this Act and registration of godowns and stocks, nobody how influential he might be couldn’t dare challenge the writ of the government,” Mr Rehman said.

He said that data from around 100 godowns and entities collected by teams in the district alone was en route to the provincial directorate for further processing.

FUNDS SOUGHT: The Oghi’s Nimal Fateh Bandi village council on Sunday demanded of the government to release development funds to local bodies without delay.

Talking to reporters, peasant councillor Mohammad Javed said the government should release development funds and honorarium to the local body representatives.

He said successive governments ignored the local bodies resulting in the system not being able to deliver.

Mr Javed said if funds were released and development schemes were executed through them the people’s confidence in the system would be restored.

“We (LG representatives) want the government to release funds without delay so we could start execution of development schemes in our respective village councils,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2024