Prices of essentials

The prices of essentials keep on skyrocketing from time to time. There seems no control from the concerned government department over the price rise. The system designed to check the prices is proving ineffective. The non-cooperation of consumers is also adding to the problem.

Be it mutton, chicken, vegetables, fruit or other such items, fixing of the prices is the choice of the shopkeepers and not the government. The government fixed rates are openly being violated and the essentials sold at higher prices. Secondly, there is no check on the quality of these essential items.

Substandard quality is provided to the consumers at higher rates. Earlier,  the unnecessary price hike used to occur during the closure of Srinagar-Jammu National Highway in winter or during festival times. But now it has become a permanent malpractice by large number of shopkeepers.

The consumers have to pay through the nose. Why the concerned departments are unable to enforce their writ and make the shopkeepers sell the essentials on the fixed rates. Mutton is sold at Rs 700 per kg. The rate of chicken keeps on fluctuating and so do the rates of fruits and vegetables with no respite to the consumers.

The market checking by the concerned government department proves ineffective. The government rates are floated by most of the shopkeepers. The inspection by government teams remains confined to some areas only and that only occasionally.

There seems shortage of man power in the department to go for such type of inspection. Secondly, the consumers do not come forward to lodge their complaints. They prefer succumbing to the malpractices of shopkeepers rather than lodging a complaint.

If the complaints are lodged and properly followed, the shopkeepers would desist from indulging into such practices. But when they get a free hand and they are not made accountable, they like to sell the items on rates of their choice.

Subsequently, the consumers have to suffer. There should be an end to this uncontrolled price hike. The government authorities must deal with this strictly and the consumers too must play their role.