PESHAWAR: Poultry dealers went on strike in the provincial capital for indefinite period af ter the administration issued revised price list for chicken and arrested 13 of them for violating it.

The call for strike was given by the Muttahida Poultry Association Peshawar.

A relevant official told Dawn that the poultry dealers charged costumers Rs185 and more for one kilogramme live chicken on their own and therefore, administration stepped in and revised the price to Rs151 in consultation with dealers.

He said the arrests were made in University Road, Palosai, Board Bazaar and Chargano Chowk areas.

When contacted, Muttahida Poultry Association Peshawar president Haji Hazrat Gul said poultry dealers had rejected the revised chicken price and challenged it in the Peshawar High Court.

`We`re invited to a meeting by the administration but we didn`t agree with the officials on the new chicken price for being unreasonably low,` he said.

Mr. Gul said there was a difference of Rs32 per kg in the chicken price fixed by the administration and the one charged by dealers.

He said if dealers weren`t allowed to sell chicken for Rs183 per kg, they would suffer huge losses, especially inlight of the recent huge chicken deaths and high transportation charges.

`Under the current circumstances, asking dealers to sell chicken at Rs151 per kg is an unjust act,` he said.

The association chief said poultry dealers had to fix prices in light of those prevailing in Punjab but the administration wanted them to fix the rate on permanent base, which was impossible.

He said both wholesalers and retailers had shut down their businesses and stopped the sale of poultry as the price fixed by administration didn`t suit them.

`The administration had warned dealers of action under 3-MPO (maintenance of public order) causing unrest among them and therefore, they closed their shops,` he said.

Mr. Gul said at least 8,000 people were associated with the poultry business in Peshawar district mostly on daily wage basis and that actual sufferers of the business closure would be poor workers. He said ironically, poultry dealers in other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were fixing chicken price on their own.

`The suspension of chicken supply will adversely affect wedding functions and events, or businesses of food outlets,` he said.

The association chief said the strike would continue until the administration increased chicken price as demanded by poultry dealers.