Good Governance and Price Control
The recent episode of Jwandai Jazbey (Alive Spirit) discussed the concept of good governance and price control in Ramadan. During the holy month of Ramadan prices of food items and other utilities have skyrocketed due to which people are suffering on a large scale.
The guest on the show, Assistant Commissioner, Sarah Khan said that the concept of good governance has evolved from a passive and one-way authoritative concept to an active and participatory model of feedback where people are engaged too. She said that district government is trying to give subsidy to people by fixing the prices of food items to facilitate the public, although the prices of all the items depend upon the supply and demand chain mechanism. People, on the other hand, are also responsible for the increasing prices as they do not verify the prices from the utility store owners and pay as per demand.
While highlighting the efforts of district administration she said that they are putting in efforts and in addition to that they have also raided different places to eliminate illegal practices in the subsidy bazaars established by the government at different spots of Peshawar.
The second guest on the show, Ahmed Ali Shah, Food Safety Officer at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Department, said that they have established a complaint cell with the aim of engaging locals in the quality standardization process and followed by strict actions against those who violate the laws. He further said that it is the priority of the Food Department to not target the locally established businesses of the people which are using sub-standard materials in preparing food items but to bring them to the approved standards and keep them under proper check and balance.
The guest on call Mr. Gurmeet Singh, a Jumrud based shopkeeper, said that he is giving subsidy on all items of his utility stores to the Muslims in respect to the holy month of Ramadan and he is receiving a tremendous response from the Muslim community over this relief and feels satisfied in serving the humanity in the month of Ramadan.
The report by Mr. Tahir Rashid from Kohat shared that people are facing difficulties in getting reasonable price products in the subsidy bazaars established by the government.
The report by Mr. Abdur Razzaq from Peshawar shared that the promise of giving 20% subsidy to the people during Ramadan is yet to be fulfilled by the government.
Four calls were received during the show.
About Sabawoon:
Sabawoon airs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the merged tribal Areas (FATA) since 2011. It began as a counter-radicalization, strategic communications program, designed to highlight and promote the fundamental governance values such as democracy, rule of law, women’s rights, equal citizenry, and social cohesion.
The show airs Tuesday through Thursday every week under three themes on FM-101.5 Peshawar and Dera Ismail Khan 711 kHz from 3:15 PM to 4:00 PM.
On Tuesday, Jarga Maraka covers current affairs and important regional issues with input from government and other senior officials. On Wednesday, Jwandai Jazbey airs and deals with issues of relevance to, and significance for youth, students. Issues of Women and socio-cultural affairs are discussed in Ranra on Thursday.
The primary objective of the show has been to underline the criticality of UDHR along with constitutionalism, fundamental rights, public accountability and the rule of law for countering extremism illegalities of all forms.