Lahore: The government of Punjab is taking serious measures in the favor of the masses to provide relief in all aspects like State Land Retrieval From Illegal Occupants, Developmental projects like LEH Expressway Construction, and Now is all set to take stern action against those involved in hoarding and Increased Prices Of The Construction Materials. In this connection, the government has amended the existing law whereby assigning more power to the Price Control Council and imposing heavy fines coupled with up to three years of imprisonment. As per the new act called “Prevention of Profiteering and Hoarding Act”, the Chief Minister will be the Chairman of the Price Control Council and the provincial government would take serious action against those who earn more than normal profit by selling expensive construction material.
According to the reports over the past few months, the prices of construction materials have been rising at regular intervals uncontrolled and unattended. For instance, the price of a cement bag a few months earlier was Rs 500 per bag that has now risen to Rs 725 per bag. Similarly, the price of the iron bar (Surya) has crossed Rs 190,000 per ton from 120, 000 per ton. The prices of other inputs have also soared at the same ratio. The ongoing situation prompted the government to tighten the net against the hoarders and profiteers.
In order to cope with the ongoing situation, the Chief Minister will himself supervise the price control authorities and monitor the implementation of fines and registration of cases against violators. As per the amendment, The government will set the prices of construction materials and the price control authorities will check the implementation of the prices set by the government, and a fine of Rs 100000 will be imposed for selling building materials above the prices set by the government and prison up to three years. After the 18th amendment, the government enacted separate laws regarding building hoarding and profiteering which have been amended several times. It is also pertinent to mention here that the government in view of Dollar-rupee parity, has already announced an increase of 17 percent in the prices of construction material with effect from January 1, 2022
