Srinagar, June 3: Kashmir Trade Alliance (KTA) termed the government’s decision to decontrol mutton prices in Jammu and Kashmir before Eid as ‘disturbing’.
AjazShahdhar, president of KTA, in a statement, said that the marriage season in the valley has started and Eid is also coming, and the repeal of the J&K Mutton (Licencing and Control) order, 1973 will not only increase the prices of meat but also lead to artificial scarcity and hoarding. There is also a possibility that it will lead to black marketing, he added.
Shahdhar said that if the government does not fix the prices, the mutton retailers themselves will fix the prices of meat and create difficulties for the common people.
“Government should reconsider the cancellation order and take a decision in the public interest keeping in mind the problems of the people and the need for meat in the valley,” Shahdhar urged the government.
He said the government should adopt an alternative way to fix the prices and check the quality so that the meat does not get out of the hands of the common people.
Shahdhar advised the civil society to break the silence by playing its role in this regard while demanding the administration and the Lieutenant governor ‘to look at the meat issue not in the prism of a luxury item in Kashmir but as a necessity and essential item’.