Food scarcity spectre in Cachar

Food scarcity spectre in Cachar- 2000 shops close in protest against govt order
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Silchar, Nov. 13: Cachar district is staring at an acute food shortage following closure of wholesale and retail shops since yesterday.
There is shortage of staple food including rice, sugar and lentil as around 2,000 have downed shutters.
The Silchar Foodgrains Merchants’ Organisation and the Cachar Merchants’ Association have called for closure of shops in the Fatakbazar area in the heart of Silchar town to protest against the Cachar district administration’s order not to offload trucks on the roads leading to the market.
The area is described as the clearing house of all essential food items reaching the town from Lower Assam, Meghalaya, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
The district administration last week ordered traffic police here to ensure that offloading food and other items near Fatakbazar should be completed between 10pm and 6am everyday to streamline traffic and pre-empt militant attacks.
A three-hour meeting between the district administration and different traders’ organisation today failed to find a solution.
The administration only decided to stretch night-time parking and offloading of trucks up to 8am everyday.
Cachar deputy commissioner Goutam Ganguli said he would consider the demand of the traders to allow continuous offloading of their wares during the day by parking five trucks on the main roads encircling the Fatakbazar at regular intervals after obtaining a report from police.
The price of potatoes has shot up to Rs 15 a kg while that of onions, cauliflowers and cabbages to Rs 25, Rs 45 and Rs 35.
Cachar’s consumers generally depend on vegetables brought from outside the district as the local produce hardly meets the demand.
According to the secretary of the Silchar Foodgrains Merchants’ Organisation, Pranab Paul Choudhury, everyday at least 30 trucks with capacity of carrying consignment up to 20 tonnes, reach this town from outside for offloading goods at Fatakbazar. source: the telegraph india