Protest against price hike on
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, November 16 2011:
Sustaining its campaign against the failure of the Government to check hike in prices of essential commodities consequent to the ongoing economic blockade, the Protection and Preservation Committee today organsied a sit-in-protest at Nambol Keithel in collaboration with local bodies of Nambol area.
Interacting with some newspersons on the sideline of the protest, a local woman vendor said the public have been forced to bear the impact of the prolonged economic blockade mainly due to lack of initiative by the Government to put in place effective price control mechanism.
Conceding that her toil at the market can hardly ensure two square meals, she said buying a litre of kerosene at Rs 100 for cooking and lighting the home consumes most of her earning.
|
With erratic supply of power remaining a chronic problem for decades relying on kerosene to light the house for the children to study is the only option left, she informed while adding that effort to earn extra income to run the family through handloom/embroidery works after returning home could not materialise due to absence of electricity.
While purchasing cooking gas from the black market out of the meagre earning from selling vegetables and other items at Nambol Keithel is virtually impossible escalation in the prices of fire-wood and charcoal had been compounding the problem, the woman vendor maintained.
She demanded that the Government of Manipur ensure sufficient availability of essential items by securing the National Highways as well as ensure safe passage of goods carriers on the Imphal-Moreh route.
Various other functionaries of the Committee, a conglomerate of NGOs operating in the State, while addressing at the protest demonstration strongly condemned failure of the Government to mitigate suffering of the masses.