KARACHI: Questioning the mechanism of preparing an official price list by the office of Karachi commissioner and calling it a flawed exercise, Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori on Monday demanded that local government representatives, particularly administrators of district municipal corporations, be given the responsibility of taking action against profiteering and hoarding.

Recently, the Sindh government had armed over 100 section officers in addition to others with magisterial powers to check profiteering by imposing fine, ordering arrest and confiscating goods.

Speaking at a press conference at the Governor House, he said that price lists prepared by the commissioner’s office did not reflect ground realities and mostly it focused on retailers who are under immense pressure to sell commodities at higher prices because they got supplies from wholesalers and farmers at inflated rates.

“The inflation isn’t largely due to retailers and wholesalers,” he said, adding: “I have met both the sides and held discussions. The price control mechanism is needed to be reviewed. There should also be a mechanism to check the daily auctions of commodities.”

Says concerns conveyed to CM over committee formed to regularise goths in Karachi

He said that efforts should be made to ensure availability of essential commodities at official prices.

In this regard, a new price list should be prepared within 48 hours by visiting fruit and vegetable market, he said.

He said that the administration should also keep an eye on those supplying commodities at higher rates without any logical reasons.

The governor also sought the role of DMCs to check profiteering and demanded that the powers of inspectors for price control also be given to administrators to check the overcharging of essential commodities.

Minimum wage should be fixed at Rs50,000 per month

He also suggested that the minimum wage should be fixed at Rs50,000 per month.

He also demanded an increase of 35 per cent in the salaries of government employees amid growing inflation and shrinking buying power of a common man.

The governor said that the people, mainly middle and lower middle class, were facing challenging times due to inflation.

“Similarly, the condition of the public sector employees has also worsened. There, I am writing a letter to the Chief Minister of Sindh to increase the salaries of employees by 30pc to 35pc,” he said.

He said that the situation was getting worse and it was our moral responsibility to support the poor people.

The governor also appealed to philanthropists to come forward in this difficult situation and help the people who were in trouble.

Goth regularisation may result in encroachments

The governor said that all stakeholders had raised objections to a committee set up for regularisation of Goths.

He said he had written a letter to the Sindh chief minister to reconsider the decision.

In the letter, he had sought details of the committee formed for regularisation of goths in Karachi.

He cited reservations and concerns raised by different political parties and civil society, who feared that the regularisation exercise might lead to further “encroachment” in the metropolis.

He said that he had asked the CM to include more members from all stakeholders in the committee in order to make its working transparent.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2023