Guwahati, Jan 12: Ahead of uruka (feasting night) and Magh Bihu, the Assam government has directed all district commissioners to take steps to fix and enforce retail prices of meat, eggs, milk and dairy products in their respective districts.
The directive is aimed at preventing artificial price rise and protecting consumers from exploitation by unscrupulous traders during the festive season.
“All DCs are directed to take urgent action to fix the prices of meat, egg, milk and dairy products in their respective districts in the event of the upcoming Magh Bihu in the state,” the order issued by the state veterinary and animal husbandry department, read.
“You are further requested to set up monitoring teams in your respective district to monitor whether vendors are selling meat, eggs, milk and dairy products as per the prices fixed,” the order read.
Earlier, the state fisheries department had directed the district commissioners to take steps to fix retail fish prices for Magh Bihu, and to constitute district-level monitoring committees to prevent abnormal price hikes during the festive season.
On Saturday, Assam veterinary and animal husbandry minister Krishnendu Paul had warned traders against any arbitrary hike in fish and meat prices during uruka (on January 13), the feasting night on the eve of the harvest festival.
The minister cautioned that any attempt to exploit consumers through artificial price escalation would be followed up with strict punitive action.
“Fish and meat prices cannot be increased at will during the festive period. Any deviation from the government-approved rates will not be tolerated,” he warned.
Notably, a special task force (STF) has been constituted by the state fishery and animal husbandry/veterinary department to conduct intensive inspections across fish and meat markets to ensure that consumers are not overcharged.
