SHILLONG, April 2: Expressing concern over the rising prices of essential commodities, the Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress (MPYC) has demanded that the state government compensate the daily wage workers from labour cess.
State Congress secretary in-charge of social media, Manuel Badwar said the poor, including daily wagers, are facing a lot of hardships due to price rise and as such, the government should compensate them from the “huge amounts” collected as labour cess.
The MPYC staged a protest against inflation at the Congress Bhawan here on Saturday. The protestors held placards which read, “The government does not think about the poor,” ‘Stop looting the public,” “The persistent increase in oil price is worrying,” etc.
The MPYC said linking price rise to the Russia-Ukraine crisis, trucks not entering the city during the day etc., are lame excuses. It said prices can be stabilised and the government did it in the past.
Badwar claimed the government’s initiative of Prime Hubs is helping only the elite entrepreneurs but total economic upliftment can happen only when grassroots-level entrepreneurship is promoted.
Mahila Congress president, Joplin Shylla raised a question on the different price indexes of commodities in different localities and urged the administration to look into it.
Another Congress leader Marbud Dkhar said the Congress is contemplating on staging a statewide protest against the rising prices of essential commodities and fuel. Not just the Congress, the citizens of the state have also expressed concern over inflation.