The Hon. Deputy Speaker

¶ 01 So, it is important, Hon. Deputy Speaker, that this shortage of salt is solved in the proper way. I feel that when a particular person in the private sector controls one sector, there is a conflict of interest. Therefore, we must make sure that there is proper regulation in place; there has to be a regulatory authority looking into it. In the past, we had price control on all items. We have moved away from that concept. But, the Government’s fair trading principles must be properly monitored. So, that is why we have government institutions set up to look into it. But, unfortunately, with all that and having warned from last December onwards about an impending shortage of salt in the country, the Government was very slow in taking action and finally resulted in the salt mafia controlling the price of salt in the market. And, who is behind this salt mafia? Is the Trade Ministry aware of that? Are the Trade Ministry’s officials knowingly assisting this mafia?

¶ 02 Particularly, when I see this news item, it is quite apparent that from Bombay a salt shipment had started and has arrived here already. But, it is only a small fraction that the private sector can import. A large fraction is imported by the State sector. We know that the State Trading (General) Corporation is used as a ploy, as a cover to cover up corruption. It had been done by past administrations also, in which we were also part of and we had been speaking up in the Cabinet. The relevant Ministers have to be careful. In Ministries like the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Finance, there are bureaucrats who are corrupt. That is another problem. Getting rid of corruption is not only on politicians. What about bureaucrats? Bureaucrats are also to be blamed; they, too, are involved in this type of action, which finally results in the poor general public having to suffer, paying a heavy price for a very simple item like salt.

¶ 03 Sir, I would also like to mention this.