Price check in Ramadan

Many reports are coming from different parts of the valley regarding profiteers who are overcharging the customers on daily basis. In this blessed month the traders and trade bodies are expected to play a positive role and ward off profiteering and supplies should be provided at their regular price. Many people are of the opinion that the cost of basic commodities has risen sharply during this Ramadan. There are also reports that prices of vegetables, fruits, meat, chicken and other items have gone up by 20 to 50 percent than what the government has approved. The word that goes in most small and big market places in Kashmir is the rising price, despite authorities staking out the claim that all is well. Be it a small fete or the most celebrated festival in the valley, sudden price rise and that too to serve the whims of sellers has become a regular practice in the valley. While customers can and they do raise voice but it is the department to handle consumer affairs that has to conjure some spirit to address the public inconvenience. Arbitrarily increasing prices of commodities for profit is neither good to customers nor to the economy of any state. The government, which understands the financial conditions the valley is lodged in, must at least ensure that there is a strict check on inflation. The Department of Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) can play an important role by asserting in the markets. Penalties and punishments for black marketing and profiteering can help in better distribution of commodities and curbing inflation. When governments fail to regulate markets and therefore prices of essential as well as non-essential commodities, it exacerbates the already present inflation level. Every year as if by some accepted protocol, the government and FCS&CA officials make those cursory visits around festival time to see that all is in order. What seems obvious is that sellers are least bothered about any market check or raid. If the government can’t make a seller abide by the law there is a good reason to believe that it can’t make other laws be respected. It is the responsibility of the government and the Department of Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) to take necessary measures to check price rise and strengthen the public distribution system. The ‘black sheep’ need to be identified and the menace of profiteering curbed, if not by the people, then by the trade bodies that can control them. Rates fixed by the government for consumables must be observed and the government should make all efforts to make that happen.