24 mutton shops sealed in Srinagar; drive to continue
Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, Mar10: Director of Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA), Kashmir today appealed to the general public not to buy mutton on the rates that are not as per the Government directives.
Talking to the media persons here, the Director, FCS&CA Kashmir Bashir Ahmad Khan said that if people see that the mutton is being sold at the rates that have been decided by the mutton dealers on their own they should report the same to the department.
“I appeal to them not to but mutton on those rates, rather, they should report the same to us so that we can take action against the violators as per the law,” he said.
He said that the department has been working to end the deadlock, but due to the matter internal to the mutton dealers, the process is not witnessing any development.
“We are not sitting idle; we have been working to end the deadlock on the mutton crisis and for that, they had sent their team outside, we had also sent out a team to ascertain the facts,” he said.
As per the Director, after the consensus, both the teams presented their reports and after the reports were examined; they were offered a particular rate at which they could sell mutton in the market.
“Then something happened in between the dealers regarding margin and that’s why the resolution of the issue could not move any further,” he said.
As of date, the Government rate for 1kg mutton is Rs 480 and, the Director said, those who are violating the orders, the action is being duly taken against them.
“We had earlier fixed notices on the shops of the mutton dealers, they were asked to open their shops within two days, and for those who are not adhering to it, we are sealing their shops,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Wing (EW) of the FCS&CA today inspected the markets and sealed around 24 mutton shops in Srinagar district that were found in violation of the notices earlier served to them by the department.
“Mutton dealers were given an opportunity to open their shops within 2 days, after which, during the inspection, some of them were found doing business while some have not adhered to the instructions…and the checking squad sealed at least 24 mutton shops,” Assistant Director Enforcement, FCS&CA, Kashmir Mushtaq Ahmad Wani said.
The Director said that the Department knows that the mutton dealers are doing their business and are making the general public suffer by creating an artificial shortage of mutton in Kashmir.
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