Meghalaya minister claims VPP politicising price rise ahead of council elections

Meghalaya Food & Civil Supplies Minister Comingone Ymbon, on September 13 accused the opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP) for playing politics over the issue of price rise to fool people ahead of the upcoming elections to the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs).

According to the minister, the absence of railways and the total dependence on trucks for transportation of essential commodities are also contributing factors to price rise.

His statement came as a reaction to the one-day sit-in-demonstration staged by the opposition VPP as a mark of protest against price rise of essential commodities, which is affecting the people of the state of Meghalaya to a great extent.

ALSO READ : Voice of the People Party protests soaring prices in Meghalaya

Addressing a news conference, Ymbon said the VPP’s protest is nothing but a political ploy since the ADC elections are nearing.

“Now MDC election is very near, they have to play like that. They have to fool the public in Meghalaya…,” he told reporters.

Stating that there are multiple factors contributing to the price rise in Meghalaya, the minister said, “In Meghalaya, we don’t have a railway, we totally depend only on trucks (for transportation of essential commodities).”

“(The fact that we don’t have railways) also affects Meghalaya. You know better the fare by train would be Rs 2 and by trucks is Rs 4 or Rs 5. Therefore, this is also one of the main factors (leading to price rise),” he added.

Furthermore, he also cited the government’s decision to prohibit plying of heavy trucks through Umiam Dam as one of the reasons. 

ALSO READ : Meghalaya: Plans for alternative route connecting Umiam-Shillong underway

“Due to this, the distance has increased as the trucks would have to go through Mawryngkneng (Shillong byepass),” he said, adding, “You see the trucks are coming from Guwahati before direct to Shillong and now they have to go from Shillong By-pass from Mawryngkneng by to Shillong almost 60-70 km different. The truck will charge extra, suppose if the cost of the transportation is Rs 100 rupees per quintal now they will charge Rs 200 rupees per quintal.”

According to him, Meghalaya is not a producing state and solely depends on essential commodities from outside.

On the steps taken to check price rise, the minister informed that the department is conducting raids every now and then.

“We have the Price Monitoring System. In 2021-2022 our department conducted 78 raids, in 2022-2023, 106 times, 2023-2024 till today 442 raids were conducted,” he informed.

Further countering the allegations made by the opposition party, the minister said, “Some of the political parties are charging us that the government has done nothing regarding price rise. But as per my formation from the department all the deputy commissioners are doing their job on this, they monitor every day regarding this.”

He further claimed that there is no price rise as of now. “The price is stable. Even from the government we are trying to work hard on (stabilising the price),” he added.