From Abid Usman
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday said administration had been directed across Punjab to ensure price control and arrest the hoarding culture, as she expressed her determination to provide relief to the people who have been crushed by a record-high inflation, especially food prices.
There will be zero-tolerance, Maryam told a press conference and added that officials at the district level had started carrying out raids to check the practice of selling daily use items on higher rates and creating artificial shortage.
As the PML-N government has activated the price control committees in Punjab, she asked the owners of storage facilities [godowns] to get the same registered with the district administration within three days so that the officials could have an idea about the stored items and the traders could escape government action. The chief minister also promised strict action in case anyone tried to create law and order situation, stating no one would be spared.
Any attempt to damage the public property would be dealt with an iron hand, said the chief minister who added that the critics only knew about arson and protest – a clear reference to the PTI.
“I know some people in the opposition criticise [her government]. They are not in right state of mind,” she remarked. “Criticism for the sake of criticism represents a defeated mindset”, Maryam said, but added that she was open to criticism and would learn from genuine critique.
Maryam said she had a firm belief that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would also work on reducing the prices to arrest inflation.
About the special relief package under Negahban Ration Programme, the Punjab chief minister admitted that a one-time relief to over 30 million people wasn’t enough as poverty had reached an unprecedented level.
Sharing the initiative’s details, Maryam said the government had a digital proof of each of 6.5 million bags containing QR codes, which would be distributed among the deserving families, adding that they had used the Nadra and BISP data for preparing the lists.
The chief minister said the Punjab Food Authority had been directed to check each producer to maintain quality and discourage the sale of substandard items – a practice which is one of the main reasons behind many diseases and health issues rampant in the country.
As far as the future line of action to deal with the poverty challenge is concerned, Maryam said the provincial government would conduct a province-wide survey in the coming months to prepare a Punjab Socioeconomic Registry.
