High prices dampen shopping in Peshawar

TheNews.com
PESHAWAR: Spiralling prices have dampened Eid shopping in the provincial metropolis, The News learnt Wednesday.During the last several years, Peshawarites were scared of visiting the public places because of the fear of bomb blasts and other sabotage activities. This year, however, the reason for little number of shoppers in various markets, as compared to previous years, is high prices of almost everything. Besides food items, including flour, sugar, vegetables, fruits and meat, the prices of clothes, both readymade and cloth, shoes and other items have increased manifold.
On the other hand, lack of business activities, unemployment and low income have made it very difficult to celebrate Eid with traditional zeal. Saleem Khan, a shopkeeper of readymade garments, told The News that most people blamed small traders and shopkeepers for the growing prices. About shopping as compared to last year, he said though a huge number of people were visiting bazaars before and after Iftar, most of them were doing window-shopping.Mrs Sardar, a housewife, complained that after Ramazan, the shopping for Eid was yet another test for the middle-class families. Children had demanded a lot of things but they intended to purchase the most essential items, as they could not afford to buy everything, which had been demanded.
Salman and Yasir, two friends studying at the University of Peshawar, expressed their dissatisfaction over the government efforts to control price-hike and said the rulers had nothing to do with problems of a common man. They said they had been visiting shops and bazaars for the last two hours, but did not find any shop selling commodities on reasonable prices.Meanwhile, a brief survey of famous shopping bazaars such as Shaheen Bazaar, Meena Bazaar, Arbab Road, Cantonment, Gora Bazaar and Board Bazaar revealed that the prices of shoes had increased by 10 to 25 per cent, while prices of cloth and clothes by 20 to 30 per cent, as compared to the prices of last year on the eve of Eidul Fitr.The provincial government has already announced release of advance salary for the month of September and the number of shoppers is likely to increase during the next couple of days.