The Punjab government has developed a new mechanism to determine and monitor the prices of vegetables, fruits, meat, milk and other essential food items.
Special Assistant to Punjab Chief Minister on Food Safety and Consumer Protection Salma Butt announced the development during a meeting of the Price Control Council, jointly chaired by her and Punjab Agriculture Minister Ashiq Hussain Kirmani.
Butt said providing food items at affordable prices remains a top priority of the Punjab government. She said measures have been introduced to prevent fake inspection records and improve the performance of price control magistrates.
The government has also updated the Qeemat App, making live location tracking and selfie uploads mandatory for magistrates during inspections of shops and grocery stores.
Magistrates have also been prohibited from conducting inspections between 10pm and 5am.
The meeting reviewed the performance of 1,635 price control magistrates across Punjab. Officials said millions of inspections had been conducted between 2023 and August 2026, resulting in fines worth tens of millions of rupees, thousands of arrests and the sealing of several shops over violations.
Butt said strict checks on naan, roti and chicken prices were continuing, with immediate action being taken against overcharging.
She added that tomato and potato prices had recorded a significant decline, while sugar, flour, cooking oil, poultry and pulses remained stable over the past six months. Onion prices increased slightly due to the off-season, with 64% of supply currently coming from Balochistan.
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