QUETTA: Inflation has surged to a crippling peak in Balochistan, with the provincial capital Quetta and surrounding districts facing acute shortages and unprecedented price hikes, pushing daily essentials out of reach for ordinary citizens. The crisis is most acutely felt in the unavailability of local sugar, forcing consumers to rely on imported “Dubai” sugar sold between 200 to 230 rupees per kilogram—a price nearly double that of recent months.
The storm of inflation has engulfed the entire food basket. In Quetta’s markets, farm chicken is now priced at 800 rupees, tomatoes at 100 rupees, and okra at a staggering 200 rupees per kilogram. Potatoes sell for 160 rupees, bitter gourd for 250, and sponge gourd for 150 rupees. A liter of milk costs 220 rupees, while meat prices have soared: boneless beef at 1,500 rupees, beef with bone at 1,200, and mutton reaching an alarming 2,200 rupees per kilogram. One of the most dramatic increases has been in the staple wheat, where a 100-kilogram sack now sells for 9,000 rupees, a sharp rise from 6,000 rupees, directly threatening food security for low-income families.
Public circles and citizens have expressed deep frustration over the administration’s failure to control the situation. They complain that the official price control committee, formed to curb inflation, has proven utterly ineffective, with the district administration acting as a “silent spectator” to the crisis. In desperation, residents have directly appealed to Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti, urging him to dissolve the current committee and implement a system of daily price monitoring and enforcement. For the province’s poor, the relentless price surge has made securing two daily meals an impossible challenge, highlighting an urgent need for government action to prevent a full-blown humanitarian crisis.
Meanwhile the employees of the Federal Levies Force continued their protest for a third consecutive day on Sunday, demanding the Balochistan government fulfill promises regarding their merger, unpaid salaries, and retirement packages.
The protesters have established a camp on Adalat Road in the premises of the Quetta Press Club. They state that Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti had pledged to merge the Federal Levies with the Balochistan Levies, release their frozen salaries, and provide a “golden handshake” retirement benefit to aged employees. To date, none of these core demands—including the implementation of a sons’ job quota—have been met.
