September 29: Members of Parliament have urged the government to remain vigilant about exorbitant price hike and black marketing of daily essentials including sugar as the major festivals such as Dashain and Tihar are just around the corner.     
A majority of the parliamentarians attending the meeting of the Public Account Committee under the House of Representatives this week said artificial shortage of daily consumable goods could be created during the festivals and thus brought this matter to the attention of the government.    
Lawmaker Gokul Prasad Banskota emphasized the need of ensuring people's right to avail the daily essentials at an affordable price. He claimed that the shortage of sugar in the market, especially during the festivel season, was due to giving select persons privileges for the manufacturing and importing essential items.    
Likewise, Rajendra Prasad Lingden appealed to the government to pay timely attention to the plight of the consumers who were bearing the brunt of black marketing and inflation.    
Achyut Mainali and Dev Prasad Timalsina expressed concern over the undue advantage that were being taken by middlemen at the expense of genuine farmers when it came to chemical fertilizers.    
Arjun Narshing KC urged the government to take necessary steps as the general public were bearing the brunt of black marketeering of food items as the festive season approaches.    
Ram Krishna Yadav demanded strict actions against those business persons involved in hoarding food items, thereby leaving consumers at the lurch.    
Lekhnath Dahal requested the committee members to take stock of the complaints and status of implementation of the decisions in the past to increase the effectiveness of the committee.    
Similarly, Shyam Ghimire questioned how long would the public corporations sustain with the grants and subsidies provided by the government due to their bleak financial conditions. He demanded effective market monitoring to curb the black marketing of the daily consumable items.    
Manish Jha called for making the discussions of the committee public with the use of social media. -- RSS