By The Editor
Prices of essential commodities like food grains, vegetables, fish, meat and oils are increasing at irregular intervals causing worries and inconveniences to common people who have already faced lots of problems for two years 2020-2021 due to Covid-9 pandemic and lockdowns. Meghalaya is deficit state in food production and has to depend much on import from outside. Majority of its population comprising about 85 per cent of state’s total are meat-eaters and in this sector too it has to buy most of its needs from neighbouring states of Assam, Bihar and West Bengal, even eggs come from as far as Andhra Pradesh. All these different food items are being carried by motor vehicles the cost for which is quite high, not to mention about long distance. By the time they reach the consumers cost will be comparatively high and many cannot afford to spend much. The country at large has undergone much difficulties during last one year especially because of soaring prices of food and oil among others.
India imports more than 85 per cent of its oil requirement and as oil prices rise so also will increase accordingly. Problem is further compounded by sharp depreciation of rupee against the dollar and a weak rupee is responsible for inflation in India. Continuing war between Russia and Ukraine has also created an impact on world’s economy. Price rise at source, transportation bottlenecks through narrow strip of land in North Bengal and Western Assam connecting North East (NE) with rest of India and passing through mountainous terrain, and inadequate storage facilities are main causes of rising prices of different food items. Cost of labour, decreasing agricultural land, lack of proper seeds, cost of fertilisers, inadequate knowledge of farmers and high transportation facilities are some of problems faced by agriculturists. Hence journey from the farm to the kitchen becomes costly and budget of common man is continuously shrinking. When people cannot have proper access to balanced and nourishing diet it is only a matter of time that their health will deteriorate.
Capitals of NE states via Guwahati are 1,000 km to 1,700 from Kolkata by road, and 2,000 km to 2, 600 km from Delhi while distance between NE states and Kolkata via Bangladesh on an average is 600 km to 800 km. Of the eight NE states, Assam’s main city of Guwahati (adjoining capital Dispur), Tripura capital Agartala and Arunachal Pradesh’s Naharlagun (adjacent to capital city Itanagar) are now connected with railway network. Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) is now laying new railway tracks to connect capital cities of three more NE states of Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland. Due to absence of railway connectivity, transportation of essentials, transport fuel, vegetables and food grains is fully dependent on roads which is very problematic, expensive and time-consuming. During monsoon season due to heavy rain, landslides and landslips as well as floods problem becomes more acute causing more problems and inconveniences to the people of Northeastern region especially Meghalaya.