Editor,
It has become a routine, and frankly intolerable, experience for the people of Arunachal Pradesh. You pick up a daily commodity, check the price tag, and find the shopkeeper demanding a premium – a ‘surcharge’ – well above the printed maximum retail price (MRP). When confronted, the response is almost scripted: a dismissive shrug, followed by the convenient excuse that the wholesaler has forced them to inflate the price.
For too long, the common consumer has been forced to subsidise the greed of a supply chain that hides behind empty justifications. Let us be clear: this practice is not just unethical; it is a blatant violation of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009.
Under Indian law, the MRP is not a floor price, nor is it a negotiable suggestion. It is the legal ceiling. Retailers who claim they are ‘forced’ by wholesalers to overcharge are merely admitting their own complicity in an illegal trade practice. By accepting this as the status quo, we are allowing the law to be rendered ineffective.
What is perhaps more distressing than the overcharging itself is the deafening silence from those who should be acting. Where is the proactive enforcement from the administration? Where are the market unions, which often claim to represent the interests of the public, when these unfair trade practices are normalised before our eyes?
When the local administration remains silent, they send a dangerous message: that regulations are optional and that consumer rights in Arunachal are secondary to the convenience of the retailer. When market leaders choose not to speak, they protect their own at the expense of the citizens they serve.
However, we must also reflect on our own role in this cycle. Every time we pay an inflated price without a word of protest or a formal complaint, we signal that this exploitation is acceptable. We are, in effect, funding the very system that cheats us. The excuses about ‘wholesaler pressure’ stop at the checkout counter. The law holds the retailer directly responsible for the price they charge. It is time for us to stop treating these instances as minor inconveniences and start treating them as the legal violations they are.
It is time for the Department of Legal Metrology to move beyond passive observation and conduct aggressive, surprise inspections in our markets. It is time for our local leaders to advocate for the common buyer, rather than turning a blind eye to retail exploitation.
‘Enough is enough’ is not just a sentiment; it is a call to action. I urge my fellow citizens: stop paying for illegal surcharges. Demand a receipt for every purchase. Document the overcharging, note the shop details, and file your complaints through the E-Daakhil portal.
We deserve a fair market, not a hostage situation. It is time to enforce the law – not just in the books, but on the shelves of every shop in our state.
Badak Yomgam
