Government Urged To Address Manual, Digital Scale Dispute

(MENAFN- Pajhwok Afghan News)

MAIMANA (Pajhwok): Some raisin sellers and gardeners in Faryab say that the difference in weighing raisins with manual and digital scales has become a major concern and challenge in business transactions, and these differences have caused them financial losses.

They accuse major raisin traders of underestimating the weight, saying that they weigh their raisins with digital scales and bring them to the large Qaisar Raisin market for sale, but the traders, using old hand scales, undercount two to three sair (seven kilograms) of raisin per hundred sair of raisin in Kabul, causing them to financial losses.

According to these raisin sellers and gardeners, in this era when all business transactions are regulated by technology, merchants in Qaisar Market reweigh the goods weighed on an electric scale with a manual scale and immediately weigh them on an electric scale for sale and export, and the government should prevent their illegal actions.

Ghulam Sakhi, a resident of Shakh area of Qaisar district, said He bought raisins weighed by an electric scale, but when he brought them to Qaisar Market, the traders weighed them with a manual scale, which resulted in missing two sair of raisins in every 50 sairs..

He added that in the commercial sector, where digital scales and other facilities are available, manual scales are not used, and the government should pay attention to this issue

Serajuddin, another raisin seller, said He had purchased 400 sairs of raisins weighed by an electric scale, but when he sold them with a manual scale at Qaisar Market, 7 sairs were counted less, and the profit he expected was lost due to the difference in the scale.

Azizurrahman, another raisin seller, said:“I sold10 sairs of raisin but it was weighed one sair less, I don't know what technic they used.”

Sayed Anwar, one of the raisin's traders, said the issue of weighting on manual and digital scale existed for a long time between the sellers and buyers. He

suggested that instead of using manual scales, like in the Kandahar market, a four-sira measure be specified and the raisins be emptied from the sack and then weighed.

When asked why they don't weighed on electric scale, he said:“We buy raisins from vendors, when we unload the sacks and bags, they have placed some raisins at the bottom and top of the sack, and spoiled raisins in the middle, this kind of thing has led us to weight one sair with a hand scale, If the raisins in the sack are two colors, the raisin is rejected.”

Mohammad Naeem Kochi, another businessman, said all traders weigh raisins with old hand scales, and this custom has existed since the past, he says he is completely in favor of eliminating hand scales and asks government officials to pay attention to this issue and solve the problem.

While weighing raisins with a hand scale, Mohammad Halim told Pajhwok Afghan News that he takes two Afghanis from the seller for each weighing and weighs accurately without considering the profit or loss of the seller or buyer

He said when the market condition is good, he earned 500 to 1,000 afs for weighing

Sayed Ahmad Farid Hashami, head of the Faryab Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said He considers buying with one scale and selling with another was against business customs and ethics.“Anyone who does this is not a merchant, but rather a thief”.

Mufti Najibullah Qureshi, the member of Faryab Ulma Council, said underestimating the weight of a scale is an illegitimate and ugly act that the Holy Quran explicitly forbids.

Those who weigh with a manual scale and sell with an electric scale must have evil intentions.

Mawlavi Habibullah Farooqi, head of the Virtue and Vice Department told Pajhwok Afghan News From the perspective of Islam, reducing the weight is considered a dangerous act and a major sin that has both worldly and hereafter-related harm.

Farooqi said that in the fourth paragraph of Article 18, Chapter 2 of the Law on Encouraging Righteousness and Forbidding Evil, it is clearly stated regarding traders, businessmen and farmers that supervisors are obliged to prosecute any trader and businessman who reduced the weight of scales, measures and weights during buying and selling.

During the time of Prophet Shuaib, the people of Madyan were reducing the weight, the Prophet told the people not to avoid weight reducing. When they did not act on the words of the Prophet, they suffered the punishment of God and due to the earthquake, they all sank underground. Merchants and businessmen who weigh on the scales should be aware of such divine punishment.

It is worth mentioning that Faryab is globally known for its raisin production, and according to local officials, up to 100,000 kilograms of raisins are exported from this province to different provinces and abroad every week.

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