The holy month of Ramadan is on the anvil. One had hoped that coronavirus would instill the fear of God in the heart of the traders and they would not hoard essential commodities and create their artificial scarcity in the market for selling them at exorbitant price for scooping fat gains and becoming millionaires overnight.
That hope has, unfortunately, not materialised.
In many countries the traders voluntarily slash price of consumer goods on religious occasions like Easter and Christmas so as to make things easier for the low income group of society to celebrate these events without any additional financial burden on them but unfortunately in this part of the world reverse is the case.
It is, therefore, incumbent on the local administration, the Food department and the police to come down heavily on the hoarders and black marketers in order to deter them for fleecing the common man and the salaried people. These antisocial people deserve no mercy, whatever, and stern punishment should be handed down to them.
POSTSCRIPT: Let us hope that the ministry of science and technology and Ruet Hilal Committee won’t quarrel over the issue of sighting of the moon for Ramadan as well as Eid ul Fitr this year round and thus make themselves a laughing stock of the world as they did last year All persons associated with this task must take full benefit of the latest scientific equipment and knowledge available in the matter.