Guwahati: With a view to bringing a halt to the soaring prices of fruits-vegetables against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Assam Government has set up a core committee to ensured that fixed vegetable prices are being maintained in the market.
This decision was announced by the State's Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who chaired a meeting with the representatives of merchant bodies to discuss and deliberate over the rise in prices of vegetables and other essential commodities amidst the lockdown scenario.
In the meeting with the merchant leaders, the CM also urged officials to ensure that the to-and-fro movement of the vehicles ferrying these essentials is not hindered. This committee will be headed by Syedain Abbasi, Additional Chief Secretary (PHE, Water Resources, Information Technology, Science & Technology, Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs), officials said.
The Committee will have as its members the Kamrup (Metro) Deputy Commissioner, the City Police Commissioner, the Chief Executive Officer of the Marketing Board, and the Transport Commissioner as its members.
The rise in prices has come as a double whammy at a time when the denizens of the state are already struggling with the complexities posited by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The committee formed to put an end to this nuisance will form flying squads to monitor the places where the commodities will be sold -- to check whether the prices are being maintained or not.
Sonowal made his announcement a day after representatives from the Kamrup (Metro) District Administration, Assam State Marketing Board, Directorate of Food Processing, Assam, and Representative of Wholesale dealers fixed consumer prices of various vegetables at a meeting. According to a price list issued by the Director of Horticulture & Food Processing, Assam the new prices of the vegetables are as follows.