Assam Jatiya Parishad urged government to control surging prices of food items

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) has expressed concern over the sharp rise in prices of essential commodities in the market.

"Prices of vegetables and fruits alone have gone up by 30 per cent. This is unfortunate and shows the inattention of the government and the administration," stated AJP general secretary Jagdish Bhuiyan on Monday.

The AJP has opined that not only vegetables and fruits, but in almost all sectors, prices have gone up unnecessarily.

"At a time when the people of the State were facing various challenges, including large numbers of people losing their jobs due to the partial lockdown caused by the COVID pandemic again, the government had a responsibility to maintain complete control over the market. But for mysterious reasons, the government has taken an indifferent stance on the issue," Bhuyan underlined.

He asserted that the people of Assam were aware of the apparent 'failure' of the Central and State governments to control commodity prices in the country over the past few months.

"The government has already come under fire for raising the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to 5.52 per cent in March 2021. In the meantime, the sharp rise in food prices again in April is a clear reflection of the failure of the government and administration," said Bhuyan.

Further, he pointed out that the State government had earlier constituted a task force to continue monitoring and controlling the price situation, though in the present scenario the task force does not seem to be existing.

"It's surprising as well as mysterious too," Bhuyan stressed.

He opined that the government should take immediate action to reduce the price of food items by activating the task force set up to control the prices of goods. Otherwise, the government will be accused of making the lives of the people miserable instead of fulfilling its responsibility to improve the lives of the people during disasters, he added.

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