What good is the Competitive Commission of Pakistan if it cannot rein in the big business and checkmate creation of any cartel and monopoly?A case in point is the cement industry. The cement manufacturers have colluded to fix price of every cement bag in the vicinity of Rs 520 which is almost double the price of cement bag being sold in many other countries including Iran and India. The cement manufacturers are not willing to bring down its price on the plea that they are using gas in their cement plants whose price has increased manifold. There are, however, some reports that in most of the cement factories coal is being used instead of gas and the price of coal is cheaper than that of gas.
There are reports that iron wires and girders are also being sold at a much higher price than their rates prevalent in other countries.
This government has not passed on the full relief to the common man of the tremendous fall in the price of oil at the international level which is unfortunate. Though some relief has been given but it amounted to a pittance and was not in consonance with the actual drop in the fuel price in the international market. What is pitiable is the fact that whenever there is an increase in the oil p[rice at the international level , the traders of all hue and stock, including the transporters jack up the commodities they sell but when there is a drop in its price in the international level, they forget to reduce prices of essential goods accordingly and the so-called Competitive Commission of Pakistan also looks the other way.
The apologists of the capitalistic system of economy oppose interference of the administration in regulating price index of the essential commodities on the plea that the market economy can only flourish if there is no state interference in it as it gyrates round the concept of demand and supply. Experience of hindsight , however, shows that wherever and whenever the capitalistic system of economy was allowed unfettered freedom it turned into the worst type of exploitative system in which the teeming millions were economically exploited with rare abandon by the monied class. It is, therefore, , extremely essential that a close watch be kept on it because if there is no body to oversee this system it doesn’t take much time to convert into an oppressive system of economic exploitation fatal to the have-nots. If it has succeeded in western countries it is precisely for the reason that they have evolved a system of check and balance also for ensuring availability of consumer goods at affordable price. The Competitive Commissions which they have evolved are not impotent like the one we have in this country.
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