Feeling the pinch of vegetable prices? Blame it on Dispur: FCC

A FACT FILE
(1)    Lease deed for 30 years in the me of a 'ghost' person - Juber Ali.
(2)    Lease deed is meant for a cold storage but the spot and the deed are used for a 'vegetable syndicate' in the guise of a vegetable wholesale point at Muchkhowa in the city.
(3)    The key man running the illegal money-minting business is Jahanuddin Rahman.
(4)    Jahanuddin charges Rs 20 to Rs 40 against each basketful of vegetables unloaded on the spot.
(5)    With around ten trucks of vegetables being unloaded at the spot a day, the monthly income of Jahanuddin ranges from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.
(6)    Shares of the amount so collected go regularly to political heads, the police, GMC, political parties and social organizations.    

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, June 23: Why are the asking prices of vegetables so high in Guwahati? The simple answer, according to the Forum of Conscious Citizen (FCC), is that shares of what one pays for a kg of, say cabbage, go the political heads, the police, Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC), bureaucrats,  political parties and so-called social organizations. And the man who runs this illegal system on the ground, according to the FCC, is Jahanuddin Ahmed alias Dulu of Muchkhowa, Guwahati.

Talking to newsmen in the city today, FCC president Utpal Das said: "Middlemen and syndicates are the ones who raise the prices of vegetables in Guwahati. Those who have a nexus with the middlemen and the syndicate are political leaders, political parties, GMC officials, police officials and social organizations. The key person who runs the syndicate is Jahanuddin alias Dulu. He has been running the illegal business in the me of M/S Muchkhowa Vegetable Retailers' Development Association for five years."

The Gauhati High Court, according to Das, ordered the shifting of the Muchkhowa Vegetable Market from Muchkhowa to Pamohi at Boragaon in the city way back on June 7, 2010. After the order was stayed, the Supreme Court also issued the same order . "However, after the SC order, Jahanuddin, in connivance with GMC collector Parag Mahanta, prepared a lease deed for 30 years in the me of a 'ghost' person - Juber Ali. The deed has clearly written on it that it is for 'Modernize Cold Storage'. However, the very spot of the cold storage is used by Jahanuddin as a vegetable wholesale point where wholesalers unload vegetable trucks on payment of Rs 20-40 against each bamboo basketful of vegetables. Though the deed is meant for a cold storage no cold storage is seen there. With eight to ten trucks being loaded at the spot, the monthly income of funny money at the spot is Rs 6 lakh to Rs 10 lakh, shares of which regularly go to the GMC, political heads, political parties, the police and social organizations."

This is how, the FCC president said, the order of the Supreme Court is violated by none other than those at the helm of affairs in the State administration.