The rising cost of goods and services was a big topic of discussion in the Assembly today, with East Shillong MLA Ampareen Lyngdoh suggesting that the state government begin regulating school fees.
Meanwhile, the opposition Trinamool Congress (TMC) blamed extortion of truck drivers by ‘illegal’ toll gates along the Guwahati-Shillong highway for inflation.
Lyngdoh said that the common man does not understand terms like inflation or GST but can feel the pinch in his pocket as prices go up. Although, inflation is not the state government’s fault alone, there are things that can be done at the state level, she opined.
“School fees,” she highlighted, “have become a problem for every parent and the government should start thinking of regulating school fees. There should be uniformity in the collection of school fees because … our incomes are meagre.”
Added to this are the rising costs of cooking gas, electricity, essential commodities and healthcare, Lyngdoh added.
Meanwhile, Mawsynram MLA Himalaya Shangpliang of the TMC said that locals are suffering gravely and even the boom in construction work is not trickling down to them as contractors end up bringing in labour and machinery from outside the state.
As all the goods that come to Shillong and the other parts of Khasi-Jaintia Hills have to do so via roads, Umroi MLA George Lyngdoh said that transporters are up in arms over the extra payments they have to make to get their trucks through to the state capital.
“The transporters tell us that they have to pay at least Rs 8,000 per vehicle that has added on to the cost for consumers. The illegal district council check gates have further burdened the consumer with high costs and the decline in the state per capita has added to the misery, especially post-Covid,” he stated.
Another TMC legislator, Zenith Sangma, said that the “insensitive” central government has imposed GST on every item needed by the poorest of the poor and even imposed 18 percent GST on soap as though the poor need not wash or take baths.
