{"id":90405,"date":"2025-08-29T23:18:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T17:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/?p=90405"},"modified":"2025-08-29T23:18:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T17:48:04","slug":"chicken-prices-skyrocket-amid-nh-44-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/29\/chicken-prices-skyrocket-amid-nh-44-closure\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicken prices \u2018skyrocket amid NH-44 closure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Highway blockade leaves Valley markets paralyzed; Suppliers accused of profiteering<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Srinagar, Aug 29 (KNO): Chicken that used to be sold at Rs 125 per kg before the highway disruption is now being pushed on wholesalers\u2019 counters at Rs 160\u2013180 per kg, indicating a sharp, \u201cunjustified spike\u201d that has left households, small shopkeepers and the poor reeling.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Residents and market observers say the price jump is not a natural market correction but \u201copen exploitation by suppliers\u201d, who are cashing in on the ongoing closure of the Jammu\u2013Srinagar National Highway, alleging there is no monitoring by the Food, Civil Supplies &amp; Consumer Affairs (FCS&amp;CA) department of Kashmir.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBefore the road was closed, chicken was easily available at Rs 125 per kg. Now, they are selling it for Rs 170-180. This is sheer loot and nobody is questioning them,\u201d said Bilal Ahmad, a consumer from Rajbagh, speaking with the news agency\u2014Kashmir News Observer (KNO).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>He added that every disruption is turned into an excuse to exploit people. \u201cWhere is the administration\u2019s rate enforcement? Is FCS&amp;CA sleeping?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Notably, the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway (NH-44) has remained closed after multiple landslides, triggered by heavy rains, leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded and severing the main supply route into the Valley.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Officials said the closure has now stretched into another day as restoration teams\u2019 work on several damaged stretches.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, traders in Srinagar admitted the hike is not a formally announced revision but a market-driven surge. \u201cThe earlier price was fixed at Rs 125; wholesalers are dictating their own rates. There is no formal revision, only profiteering,\u201d said a poultry dealer from Srinagar.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Consumers also pointed out that even after some stretches of the highway were cleared, prices continued to remain inflated, suggesting cartel-like behavior rather than genuine supply scarcity\u2014(KNO)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Highway blockade leaves Valley markets paralyzed; Suppliers accused of profiteering Srinagar, Aug 29 (KNO): Chicken that used to be sold at Rs 125 per kg before the highway disruption is now being pushed on wholesalers&rsquo; counters at Rs 160&ndash;180 per kg, indicating a sharp, &ldquo;unjustified spike&rdquo; that has left households, small shopkeepers and the poor [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90406,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kashmir"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90407,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90405\/revisions\/90407"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.khushalekashmir.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}