Several consumers of North Kashmir have complained the shortage of essential commodities in concerned areas and have alleged that prices of essentials have touching sky with every passing day. They accused authorities of failing to ensure market checking squads for containing rate list.
Reports said with the onset of harsh winter this year, shopkeepers and other trade units have raised prices of many essential commodities at their own in northern parts of Kashmir Valley.
Consumers who used to hit the markets daily said that during this bone chilling winter one fails to understand why there is a sudden increase in the prices of essential commodities. They said the prices of essentials like Onion, Potato, Tomato, Lotus, Rice, Flour, Kerosene and Sugar have touched sky and shopkeepers are arbitrarily compiling rate list at their own and looting the pockets of innocent consumers.
“For justifying the high rates before consumers, shopkeepers often used Srinagar-Jammu national highway a shield to sell their items at arbitrary rates”, consumers said.
They added despite arrival of hundreds of loaded trucks with essential commodities that were stranded on the National Highway from past few days due to inclement weather, people living in far flung areas are still facing shortage of eatables and other essential commodities. They also said that in frontier areas like Tangdar and Gurez people are facing shortage of ration in their areas.
They expressed grave concern over the lull of authorities in maintaining price check in the market and said the government always remains unprepared to tackle problems with related to winter in Kashmir. “It is visible they don’t store sufficient essential commodities before the onset of winter with the result people suffers lot of hardships”, they added.
A consumer said that the prices of various food items get skyrocketed, besides life becomes tough and paralyzed adding that majority of depots of CA&PD at various places in North Kashmir particularly in rural and far-flung areas, are without stock for couple of weeks, forcing people to purchase rice, sugar and other commodities from the market where shopkeepers are looting them brazenly.
A senior official of Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution (CAPD) department Kashmir said that large quantity of essential food items have been stocked both in rural and far-flung areas of frontier district including Bandipora and Kupwara.
He also said that due to closure of national highway, the distribution of supply take more time but there is no need to worry.
We have procured huge quantity of food grans for the forthcoming months from Food Corporation of India (FCI) so consumes shouldn’t get panic, he added. (JKNS)
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