Halting house-rent hike called for.

As the new year starts, houseowners in different parts of the capital have regrettably gone for house-rent hike like the previous years as usual. It is regrettable as the steps will only add insult to injury of people who are in dire straits falling victim to the ongoing corona onslaught. It is now known to all that people belonging to jobs in private enterprises, be it related to the formal and informal sector, in particular have faced either job cuts or salary cuts. At the same time, the cost of living, including the prices of essential commodities, has seen a significant rise. As a result, many of them, especially those belonging to low-income groups, have had to send their families back to village homes, while others have to struggle hard to make their ends meet. It is important to note that Bharatia Parishad, an association of tenants, repeatedly demanded measures in recent weeks to prevent houseowners from engaging in their regular practice of increasing house rents. Moreover, they demanded the prime minister's 'executive order' for stopping eviction of any tenant during the coronavirus pandemic. However, all this appears to have gone in vain. Meanwhile, although there is a law regarding the control of house rent in urban areas apparently to protect tenants' interests from the arbitrariness of houseowners, there has so far been hardly any initiative from the authorities concerned to enforce the law. In this context, the prime minister's intervention sought by the Bhratia Parishad to prevent houseowners from resorting to any such brazen action against tenants, particularly those, could have played a crucial role. As mentioned above, prices of essential commodities have seen another round of hike in recent weeks. Although kitchen markets...