SHILLONG, Aug 1: As the prices of essential commodities, including vegetables and LPG cylinder, have skyrocketed, the Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) on Monday urged the state government to take measures to give some relief to the citizens.
In a letter addressed to Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, HYC general secretary Roy Kupar Synrem said media reports suggested Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong had stated the state government would take some steps.
“But we are yet to see any steps being taken by the state government on the issue which concerns everyone. The problem of skyrocketing of prices of essential commodities has become a cause of great concern for the people of the state,” Synrem said.
He said the prices of pulses, cereals, oil, spices, sugar, onions, vegetables and other basic necessities of life, including LPG cylinder, have touched new heights.
“After two years of struggle and hardship on account of COVID-19 pandemic, the common man has only started the recovery process from the severe losses incurred. As such, the increase in prices of essential commodities will only weaken their ability to regain financial stability,” the HYC general secretary said.
According to him, the steep rise in prices has hit the poor and the lower middle class families hard. It has become very difficult for the common man to make both ends meet, he said.
The effect is also felt by the middle class salaried people who cannot manage their household budgets within their limited salaries, Synrem said, adding the poor and the daily wage earners are the worst affected.
The HYC suggested the setting up of Price Monitoring Agency (PMA) in the Department of Consumer Affairs to monitor the prices of selected essential commodities, both retail and wholesale prices, on a daily basis.
Synrem said PMA should analyse the price situation and provide feedback to help policy interventions at an appropriate time and prevent any undesired shortfall of essential commodities.
“As a temporary relief to the consumers, commodity-specific market intervention schemes may also be implemented by PMA in a situation of shortage of a specific essential commodity and to keep the price of the item under control,” Synrem said.
He further suggested that price monitoring of selected essential items should be done by collecting data from such markets/locations in the state on a daily or weekly basis and keeping the data of prices in a public domain through the dedicated cell of the Consumer Affairs Department.
“A dedicated committee under the chairmanship of the minister concerned should be established to take decisions and appropriate action in order to check price rise and provide relief to the consumers of the state,” Synrem said.
He also suggested that the state should have a dedicated Price Stabilisation Fund with a corpus fund of a considerable amount to tackle inflation of identified essential commodities or agri-horticultural commodities to protect the interest of the consumers.
According to him, these commodities may be procured and stored for regulated release in order to help moderate prices.
Synrem suggested that hoarding or black-marketing activities of essential commodities should be checked and dealt with strictly under the relevant provisions of law.
“A request should be made to the Central government to include more beneficiaries/families under the Ujjwala Yojana Scheme for providing subsidised LPG cylinders in the state. Taxes levied on petrol, diesel and LPG cylinder should be reduced considerably in order to control prices,” the HYC general secretary said.
He also suggested that GST levied on food products as well as other essential commodities should be reduced or waived off completely.
Further, he sought a ban on the transportation or sale of homegrown essential commodities, including vegetables, to other states for the time being.
