The holy month of Ramadhan is only a few days away from now.Experience of hindsight reveals that this is the month when our traders make a quick buck by selling at exorbitant rate edibles and other consumers goods whose public demand increase manifold during this month.The modus operandi which they use is that they first create artificial scarcity of these items in the market by hoarding them and when their demand is increased they bring them into the market and sell them at the price of their choice.The tragic part of the story is that the mandarins whose it is job it is to keep a check on the price index of the consumer goods in the market look the other way and remain a silent spectator in the process.
It is about time the administrative machinery everywhere in the country is geared up.It needs to pre-empt the possible attempt on the part of the traders to dump essential commodities during the next couple of days.The administration would have to ensure that the market is flooded with all those essential goods which are used in abundance during Ramadhan and also keep a strict vigil on their price index so that the hoarders and the black marketeers do not have a field day during these 30 days of holy month of Ramadhan.It shouldn’t leave the poor consumer to the whims and caprices of the black marketers and hoarders.It is a pity that while the Christian traders voluntarily bring down the price of essential commodities on the occasion of their religious events like Christmas and Easter so that the poor among them are not hard pressed financially for observing the religious rites on these occasions, we ,on the contrary,jack up the price of consumer goods.