Muhammad Idrees, president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), has urged Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to convene a Price Control Committee meeting immediately to devise effective strategies and implement stringent measures to control the rising prices of most household products and commodities. To prevent the poor masses from crumbling under the weight of ever-increasing prices, immediate and decisive action is absolutely necessary. As profiteers and hoarders have begun their unlawful actions to maximize revenue by raising prices and creating artificial shortages of various household supplies and commodities, Karachiites are likely to suffer another harsh wave of inflation,” he said. While profit-hungry retailers claim that these price increases are the result of outrageous increases in gasoline prices and the implementation of taxes, President KCCI pointed out that while taxes have been placed on some household goods, they have not been applied to all of them. Additionally, the government must take the heaviest action possible against profiteers who are “fearlessly looting the poor masses due to weak mechanisms for rate enforcement,” he said, adding that prices used to rise over months, but now they do it in days because of poor governance. In order to alleviate the public’s already agitated and overburdened state during the holy month of Ramadan, he said, “Development of an effective price control mechanism carrying final rates along with profit margin of each and every single household product along with its strict implementation across-the-board has become inevitable,” he said, adding that committees can be formed for this purpose in which representation must also be given to market associations.