Onus for success of “Guest Control Order” lies with people, especially civil society, social and religious organizations, Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Choudhary Zulfkar Ali said this today during an interactive session held with representatives of various civil societies, sabhas, biradaries, social organizations, and business houses regarding implementation of order recently issued by the J&K Government.Mr. Zulfkar Ali said the Government can bring the order or legislation, however, its effectiveness depends upon its implementation by the people.The Minister said onus for making a conscious effort to make people aware about the importance of following the order lies with civil societies, baradaries, sabhas and social and religious organizations.
“People need to be made understand that ‘Guest Control Order’ is a social reform through which Government wants to weed out vulgar display of wealth from the society,” the Minister saidHe informed the gathering that the order is an excuse given to majority of State population who for social compulsions are forced to go for extravagant expenditures on various social functions, especially marriage ceremonies, “The majority of people due to social compulsions are forced to organize lavish functions on various social occasions like marriages for which they mostly end up getting big loans either from banks or from some money lender at high interest rates,” the Minister said.
Besides exhausting all his lifetime savings, the borrower sometimes also ends up selling his business or at times his house to repay the debut.“With the introduction of Guest Control Order, the majority of the people of the State will give an excuse to shy away from going for a big extravaganza,” the Minister said.Expressing his gratitude to people for welcoming the order, the Minister said people across broad, irrespective of their religious beliefs have appreciated the order for which the Government is really grateful.Hinting of making changes if required in the order, the Minister said, “The order is man-made, and not a “God written document that cannot be changed. It is not a holy book that can’t be changed.” He said Government could have brought it as law and not as order. However, reason to introduce it as an order was only to leave a scoop for making necessary changes if required later on, he added.The participants widely appreciated the Minister for bringing this kind of reform in the society, and said the order is very inclusive in nature.The participants said, besides, addressing the newly crept evils of injudicious spending on social gatherings, it is liberal in nature as it gives enough leverage to invite a good number of guests on gatherings.
During the meeting, it was impressed that seminars and workshops should be organized at colleges and universities to raise awareness about the issue. It was stressed that besides, youth, female folk also need to be made understand the importance of refraining from adapting the new social evils.Various suggestions regarding making certain small changes to the order were also shared with the Minister, who assured if possible, would surely be considered before making it a law.Secretary, FCS&CA Shafiq Raina, Director, FCS&CA, Jammu, G S Chib, SP City North, Vinod Kumar, Deputy Controller, Legal Metrology Department, Manoj Prabhakar, President, Jammu, Central Mahajan Sabha, Vinod Gupta, President Sanatan Dharam Sabha, Jammu, Jagish Dogra, President Chairman Monalisa Group, Jammu, Vinod Sachdeva, President Dogra Brahmin Sabha, V P Sharma, President, Amar Khashtriya Rajput Sabha, Narain Singh, President, Khahtri Sabha, R N Gandotra, President Retailer and Trader Association Jammu, Yashpal Gupta, President, All J&K Maha Sabha, Bodh Raj Rao, President Aggarwal Sabha, Dewan Chand Aggarwal, President Kashyap Rajpur Sabha, Murari Lal, President, Saryara Sabha, Sat Pal, and others attended the meeting.