Transformation wise, Zhemgang
is measured as one of the grooming regions in the country. Much of the places
are still virgin because of less development taking place. It is enveloped with
serene atmosphere and well donned lush green forest - a key reason why others
should look up to this place as an edifice and learn many things.
However, it sometimes
is inapt to describe Zhemgang as far cut off place because things go off so atypical,
particularly the business trend. It is
shooting up without any lawful means. Shopkeepers are unconcern about the
buyers and their status. What they care about is the profit from the buyers. For
civil servants, it is not much of a problem but what about those who don’t have
sound income source.
I do understand the rationale behind business
and living life in a competitive market but they should also be equipped with
ethics of selling and not to slash off customers by pricing things at their own
will. It has become difficult to shop things as the prices are soaring up
uncontrollably. Customers are becoming disinclined even to window shop.
It is not at all a
problem to rip off customers by five or ten bucks. The problem is when shopkeepers
blindly hike up the price by hundred bucks when the maximum retail price
clearly states that it is fifty.
To my surprise, it is
four pieces of chewing gum for nu five. Soon it might be one who knows. For
fifteen minutes of net surfing, it is seventy. The irony is that by the time a
page is opened, it is already three minutes gone. With the same amount we can
Google for an hour in capital city of country where modernization has reached
almost every corners of the place. Forget about printings and other accessory
works, it is way too beyond thoughts. It has become unsafe to enter a shop
without sufficiently stacked dough. Otherwise, it would be an embarrassment.
Few hundreds are just
abundant to procure kitchen stuffs which are indispensable. I hardly see people
buying cloths. Most of the shops are seen with same cloth dangling for about a
month desperately waiting for buyers. But hardly anybody turns up because of
the price phobia.
Now with the plan of pay
elevation and housing allowance by the new government, the prices are more
likely to ascend severely. Perhaps, it is jovial news for the house owners and
business folk who intends on thickening their wallet. I hope that along with
the pay hike and housing allowance, the concerned people also lay down some
guidelines which will eventually rescue the buyers from being robbed.
The unease also evenly implies
to all the concerned house landlords inflating house rents at their handiness, that
to not to contravene tenancy act of Bhutan which evidently states “the owner
shall not increase the rent before two years from the day on which a new tenant
occupies the house”. I am flummoxed if there is one here who is eyeing on this
serious matter.
The country has been
since then diseased with rupee crunch and here we are yet to suffer from
ngultrum deficit.