Where is Government?

The people of Kashmir are asking a question on the streets of Srinagar where the government? This question is becoming profound as the government has failed to provide any relief to the common people in any manner in this holy month of Ramadan. With Eid few days away, the price rise is still in the markets and people are facing lot of problems to procure essential commodities like mutton and chicken from the markets.

The mutton dealers have created an artificial scarcity of it and many of them are selling mutton in the homes at very high prices. The administration especially those wings which are responsible for the price control have failed to provide any relief to the common people. There is common statement from the authorities that they have find hundreds of shopkeepers in Kashmir Valley to control the prices, but the situation seems out of control.

The government is blaming the vested elements within the traders for the price rise in the markets of Kashmir especially in the Srinagar city in this holy month of Ramadan, the traders have blamed the authorities for the price rise. Traders are saying that the price rise is due to the hike in freight charges which have gone up due to the fact that highway remains disrupted for days together and the curbs on the highway has also compounded the problem. The tussle continues and the people of Kashmir are the real sufferers. There is no control over the markets and the disruptions have resulted in more price rise as hundreds of vehicles get stranded with essential commodities on the highway due to the fact that in the past few months, Srinagar-Jammu highway has remained disrupted due to the landslides in the Ramban sector for weeks together. The most recent is the blockade of the highway at Battery Cheshma belt at Ramban as the fresh landslides have again disrupted the traffic on highway. With Eid only few days away, the authorities should ensure that the highway remains open and the truck loads of the essential commodities reach Kashmir Valley without any fuss.