May the 'Budget Shops' be a boon

The Government, in proof of its concern for the people who are carrying a heavy cost-of-living burden, has launched what are termed Sathosa Budget Shops, where essential consumer goods could be bought at purse-easy prices.

The first of these Budget Shops was launched in Rajagiriya recently and was visited by President Mahinda Rajapaksa who spoke to customers to assess the effectiveness of this new, cost-of-living reducing measure. Apparently, the patrons of the Budget Shop reported a reduction in the prices of goods sold at the outlet, when some sections of the media conducted an on-the-spot survey subsequently.

One reason why a reduction in prices could be expected at the Budget Shops is because the wares would be sold at wholesale prices, thus resulting in a measure of relief for the customer who is more accustomed to retail rates. We commend the State for this measure and call on it to sustain the Sathosa operation and continuously explore all other avenues of bringing much-needed relief to the people.

It is with immense nostalgia that the older generation of local citizens reminisce on the heyday of the Sathosa, when cooperative outlets dotted the landscape of Sri Lanka and proved a boon to particularly the poorer segments of the population.

The cooperative store was indeed a refuge of the less affluent and even the better-off found it a very convenient institution for purchasing their everyday requirements. The "cooperative", therefore, assumed the stature of a symbol which epitomised the egalitarian aims of the State.

During those usually decried days of the so-called closed economy, despite the considerable inconveniences involved in the task of buying one's goods at the "cooperative", the latter ensured that even the least in the land availed of their essential commodities.

This does not amount to an unreserved endorsement of the regimented and regulated economy of those times but we believe that the State is obliged to ensure that every citizen of the country is in a position to satisfy his essential, material requirements at prices that suit his purse. The Sathosa Budget Shops could be seen as a continuation of this healthy tradition.

There is no going back to the times of straitjacketed, rigidly-regulated economies, but the average consumer cannot be left at the mercy of the market mechanism, by the State, since the market is no respecter of the economic status of persons. The State to be truly democratic, must care for one and all and we hope Sathosa Budget Shops would serve this purpose effectively.

Now that an institution has been put in place to relieve the consumer of the cost-of-living burden, the State should ensure that these bodies are efficiently run.

We hope the people would be spared the tragedies of the past where some "cooperatives" proved dens of corruption and some others were allowed to degenerate into refuges for political henchmen, who thronged them and rendered them a drain on the public purse.

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