• Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura 

Agartala, May 19, 2022 : Taking advantage of floods and landslides in Assam, some unscrupulous traders in Tripura’s capital city Agartala are alleged to have been illegally stocking up essential commodities in different markets which led to increase in prices of those items.

In view of this, Sadar’s sub-divisional administrative officials woke up from deep slumber after a week’s span and started raiding various shops in different markets especially Maharaj Ganj Market, Lake Chowmuhani market, Battala market, etc in the capital city of Agartala.

However, a section of unscrupulous traders claimed that the abnormal rise in the prices of petrol and diesel has pushed up the commodities’ prices across the state. In the last one week, some unscrupulous traders have been increasing the prices of essential commodities arbitrarily, claiming that railways and roads have been damaged due to severe floods in Assam.

For the past few days, buyers have been protesting in the market complaining against the doubling the prices of rice, pulses, edible oil at the whim of the traders.

Buyers have been protesting in the market for the last few days. They complained that the prices of rice, pulses and cooking oil were doubled at the whim of the traders. The same condition is of potatoes, onions and other vegetables.

Finally, officials of the Sadar subdivisional administration went out on a market operation at Maharaj Ganj Bazar in Agartala city on Thursday. They raided various shops in the market and checked the price of daily necessities. But Sadar SDM Asim Saha can see massive irregularities in the operation.

Following the raid, the SDM Saha said that the market was being raided to see if the prices of daily necessities had changed in the last few days because there is a kind of confusion among the common people. The wholesale price of potato and onion is Rs 22-23 per kg. In the last three days and today, there is no difference as such. The potatoes and onions per kg are sold between Rs 25 to Rs 30. In the last few days, there has been no change in the market for daily necessities, he added.

Saha said “Two stores have been closed failing to show cash memos. Action would be taken against those traders under the Essential Commodities Act and the Disaster Management Act, if traders take abnormal prices from buyers by pointing out problems on national roads.”

Surprisingly, one of the buyers in the market said that the prices of essential commodities ranging from potatoes and onions have skyrocketed in the market since morning, but as soon as the administrative delegation set foot in the market, the prices of daily necessities suddenly started falling by Rs 5 to Rs 10. And what is the secret behind this is probably known to all the buyers and sellers in the market.

After raiding Battala market, Sadar DCM Pranay Debnath said “We are closely monitoring all the markets and any kind of irregularities will be dealt firmly. We are doing our assessments in all markets of the sadar sub-division and several teams have been pressed into action.”