Rawalpindi-The naanbais in the city have decided to increase roti price on their own.
The naanbais, interviewed by The Nation on Saturday, cited surge in rates of flour as reason for jacking up roti price and said that they were unable to sale roti for existing prices.
The Rs8 roti, popularly called as ‘pateeri’ will now be sold at Rs10 while naan will be sold at Rs12 in the market, the naanbais said. They added that the price of kulcha, roghni naan and tandoori paratha would also be increased by Rs5 each. The new price of the said rotis would be Rs30 each, they added. Similarly, the sale of roti at an inflated rate has been reported from some areas of the city. The residents have requested the district government to take action against the naanbais involved in selling roti at high prices without approval of the authorities concerned. Ashraf, a naanbai at Chungi No 20, told The Nation the government had inflated rates of each and every thing including kitchen use items and flour. He said that gas and power tariffs had also been increased and in such circumstances, it had become difficult for them to maintain price of roti.
“So we have decided to jack up price of roti from Rs2 to Rs5 within a day or two,” he said.
“We have families and feeding them is our responsibility. The prices of petrol and other items have gone up but the roti price is still the same. We cannot sale roti at low price,” said Mushtaq, another naanbai.
Muttahid Naanbai Welfare Association Central President Shafiq Qureshi, when contacted, confirmed that the price of roti would be increased. He said that the government had inflated rates of flour. The flour (normal) bag which was available at Rs2,800 before Ramazan is now beings sold at Rs3,650 whereas super fine flour bag is available at Rs4,500 instead of Rs3,400, the older price, he said, adding that the price of maida sack had also been increased from Rs3,500 to Rs4,629 in the market.
He said all naanbais associations’ elected representatives are going to hold a meeting at Liaquat Bagh on July 1 to chalk out their future line of action. He said that the naanbais would also stage protests if the government tried to stop them from jacking up price of roti.
Meanwhile, the price of Halwa Puri has also been increased from Rs20 to Rs25 each across the city with no action on part of government.
No official from the district government was available for his/her comments on the issue.