Price Control Magistrates conducted 413,538 inspections across Punjab during the past week to monitor prices of essential commodities, reporting 19,538 cases of overcharging, according to a performance report issued by Secretary Food Safety and Consumer Protection Dr Kiran Khursheed.The report said 1,503 cases were also reported for failure to display official price lists.Fines amounting to Rs113.725 million were imposed over overcharging and other violations, while 52 FIRs were registered and 377 people were arrested during the enforcement operations.During inspections of bread prices, 70,461 checks were conducted. The authorities reported 4,818 cases of overcharging, registered seven FIRs and arrested 86 people. Fines totalling Rs722,000 were imposed in these cases.The report said prices of other essential commodities, including chicken, basmati rice, mash, sugar, masoor, moong, flour bags, vegetable ghee, pulses, eggs, tomatoes, onions and potatoes, were also checked.Dr Khursheed said the Punjab Enforcement and Regulatory Authority (PERA) also continued enforcement operations in markets from September 8 to 15, conducting 72,703 inspections.During these operations, 1,377 cases of overcharging were detected and fines totalling Rs56.245 million were imposed. Twenty people were arrested and 32 business premises were sealed.According to the secretary, monitoring and enforcement activities are continuing in markets to ensure the availability of essential commodities at officially fixed prices and to prevent overcharging.
