“The prices once regularly controlled through regular market checking practices are nowhere under control in Jammu & Kashmir and can’t be brought under control till full revival of the enforcement wings of the twin directorates of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department”.
Though consumer protection is accorded highest priority in almost all the states and union territories of the country but the increasing stress of price rise on consumer does not attract the attention and intervention of the Government it deserves for almost than last two years in Jammu & Kashmir. Unfortunately the Enforcement Wing of the twin directorates of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department established decades ago in Jammu & Kashmir for containing and controlling the prices of essential commodities has ceased to function in the light of a Government order issued almost two years ago. While heightened vigil on inspection of food products at the grocery stores is a routine practices in almost all the states and union territories of the country , the regulation of the prices of essential commodities ceases to be in operate for more than two years now in both Kashmir Valley and as well as Jammu division. Unfortunately the prices once regularly controlled through regular market checking practices are nowhere under control in Jammu & Kashmir and can’t be brought under control till full revival of the enforcement wings of the twin directorates of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department in Kashmir Valley and Jammu division. Experiences of decades have shown that rise in the prices of essential commodities brings under more stress the consumers in landlocked Kashmir Valley during chilly winter months than mid-summer periods due to its vulnerability to frequent traffic disruptions on Jammu-Srinagar highway.
“While top authorities of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumers Affairs Department have been persistently claiming it for the last two years that no law gives them power and authority to carry out routine market checking practices in Jammu & Kashmir, the new elected Government has all the powers to give legal nod to the revival of enforcement wing at the twin directorates of FCS& CA Department for the purposes of reviving the decades old market checking practices across Jammu & Kashmir. Now it is for the Minister Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department to take an early call on the revival of the enforcement wing at the twin directorates of FCS& CA Department for reviving the decades old market checking practices simultaneously in both Kashmir Valley and as well as Jammu division.”
Kashmir a region known for frequent disruptions in traffic movements on Jammu-Srinagar highway always keeps on crying over the supply of essential commodities more intensely during chilly winter months than peak summer season in Kashmir Valley . The regulation of the prices of essential commodities through revival of decades old market checking practices as such demands and deserves urgent attention and intervention of the Government. While top authorities of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumers Affairs Department have been persistently claiming it for the last two years that no law gives them power and authority to carry out routine market checking practices in Jammu & Kashmir, the new elected Government has all the powers to give legal nod to the revival of enforcement wing at the twin directorates of FCS& CA Department for the purposes of reviving the decades old market checking practices across Jammu & Kashmir. Now it is for the Minister Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department to take an early call on the revival of the enforcement wing at the twin directorates of FCS& CA Department for reviving the decades old market checking practices simultaneously in both Kashmir Valley and as well as Jammu division.
