RAWALPINDI: Three major poultry trader organisations on Tuesday went on indefinite strike in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad against the uniform rates of poultry in Punjab.

The distributors, wholesaler and retailers have stopped selling chicken and eggs. The poultry association of Abbottabad district and Chakwal district also announced their support for the strike and stopped the supply of chicken as a result of which the twin cities ran short of poultry items .

Wholesale Poultry Association President Malik Ghazanfar, Suppliers Association President Raja Waqas Abbasi and Retailers Association President Zaheer Abbas Abbasi informed the newsmen that the strike will continue and protest camp will be established on Hamilton Road Dingi Khoi.

They said the Rawalpindiadministration was constantly increasing pressure on them because the Punjab chief secretary has directed them to enforce uniform rate of chicken across the province.

Therefore, Wholesale Poultry Association President ofMalik Ghazanfar said the rate of chicken in Rawalpindi should be the yardstick for issuing rates for other districts of Punjab.

`The associations are of the view that implementation of uniform is unjust for Rawalpindi traders because there is no production or farming of chicken in Rawalpindi or its vicinity, here chicken comes from other distant districts including Sargodha, Mandi Bahauddin and Gujranwala and we have to pay transportation and labour charges,` he said.

He said that transportation and labour charges increased the chicken price by Rs40 per kg so it would be difficult for them to sell the chicken on the rate of Lahore or other districts. `The uniform rate will cost the traders and it will be difficult for them to do business,` he said.

He said that most of the traders do business on credit and installment and doing business under this policy will be difficult for them. He said supply and demand factor determine daily rate of chicken in the local market. Aamir Yasin