MUBASHAR NAQVI
MUZAFFARABAD The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government has approved an ordinance against hoarding of essential commodities and to take action against the hoarders in the state. Sharing the details of the newly introduced ordinance here on Sunday, the Chief Secretary Mathar Niaz Rana said that state government has promulgated a new law to fine and jail traders who hoard 30 essential food and medical items and creating their artificial shortage. He said stern action against hoarders was necessary as these crimes ultimately resulted in the poor paying a heavy price. ‘Those who provided wrong information about the hoarders would be jailed for three years with ten lakh fine. However, correct information giver would be rewarded ten percent of the amount deposited in the state treasury’, he informed. Mathar Niaz Rana said that the government will not let anyone exploit the prevailing situation. He said Prime Minister Pakistan Imran Khan and AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan paid immediate attention towards the complaints about hoarding of edibles amid the lockdown and had directed for necessary legislation, ‘New ordinance contains three-year sentence, summary trial and fine equal to 50 percent of the value of seized items on the hoarders’, CS told. The Chief Secretary further told that according to the new law, hoarding would be a non-bail-able offense and its trial would be carried out in special court.
