Hoarders of 41 items to get three years' imprisonment

The Punjab government has made hoarding of 41 items a punishable offence up to three years of imprisonment. In this connection, the government promulgated The Punjab Prevention of Hoarding Ordinance 2020, under which any dealer found hoarding an article defined in the Schedule 2 of the Ordinance shall be guilty of an offence punishable with simple imprisonment up to three years and a fine equivalent to 50 percent of the value of the articles involved in the case. Moreover, the trial under this Ordinance shall be concluded within 30 days.

The government barred the following items from hoarding: tea, white sugar, milk, powdered milk, milk food for infants, edible oils, fruit juices and squashes, salt, potatoes, onion, pulses, fish, beef, mutton, eggs, 'gur', spices and vegetable, red chilies, drugs and medicines, kerosene oil, matches, coal, chemical fertilizers, poultry food, cement, phutti seed cotton, cotton (lint), cottonseed, wool, caustic soda, soda ash, paddy, pesticides, meat on hoof, wheat flour, surgical gloves, face masks, N95 masks, sanitizers, surface cleaning products and isopropyl alcohol.