A meeting, chaired by Punjab Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman at Civil Secretariat, was informed here on Friday that implementation of reduced price of roti was being ensured across Punjab on the orders of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. The meeting was told that 817 people had been arrested over violation of the orders, 347 cases registered and Rs. 11.7 million fine imposed collectively during the last five days. A report regarding the actions was presented during the meeting. The administrative secretaries of industries and food departments, Chairman PITB and officers concerned attended the meeting, while all divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners participated through video-link. The chief secretary said that reduction in the price of roti was a great initiative of the Punjab government to provide relief to people, adding that implementation at new rates would be ensured in any case. He mentioned that the new price of roti was fixed, keeping in mind the cut in the price of flour and other expenses, adding that there was no justification for selling roti at a higher price now.
He directed that price control magistrates to remain active in the field for monitoring rates. The secretary industries gave a detailed briefing at the meeting. He said that so far more than 22,000 Tandoors had been inspected and 94 of those sealed. In 10 districts including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, the price of roti had been fixed at Rs. 16, while its price had been fixed at Rs 15 in 26 districts. He maintained that the price of Roti in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur had been set at Rs. 13, while it has been fixed at Rs. 12 in Muzaffargarh and Kot Addu. He said that as per the instructions of Punjab CM, banners showing new price of roti had been displayed at Tandoors and in case of overcharging the citizens could lodge complaints on the Qeemat App or complaint cell No. 08000-2345.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Captain (retired) Rizwan Qadeer warned hoteliers and Tandoor operators to either sell Roti weighing 100 grams at Rs 15 per piece or else be ready to face punitive action. The DC embarked on surprise visits to different hotels and Tandoor, a traditional bread-baking facility, in parts of the city on Friday and imposed heavy penalties on the violators. One well-known hotel at Dera Adda Chowk was issued a Rs 50,000 penalty ticket for selling underweight Roti. He ordered hotels and Tandoor owners to display the Roti price list prominently and avoid violating the governments orders meant to provide Roti to the people at a reasonable price. He ordered price control magistrates to visit their respective areas of jurisdiction and provide relief to people. Under the directive of Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the sale of roti and naan at the notified rates is being ensured across the district. In this regard, the Price Control Magistrates under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner Bahawalpur Zaheer Anwar Japa are actively involved.