New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
on Saturday began consultations with the Chief Ministers on ways to
contain rising prices of essential commodities and provide
relief to common man.
The meeting, being attended by the Chief Ministers of
most of the states, has been called in the backdrop of food
inflation which touched a decade high of 20 percent in
December.
Prices of sugar, pulses and vegetables have skyrocketed
in the past few months even as the government allowed liberal
imports to tone up supplies and ban exports of several items.
The Congress Working Committee (CWC), headed by party
president Sonia Gandhi, yesterday expressed concern over the
soaring prices and asked the government to initiate steps to
provide relief to common man.
Besides the Chief Ministers, the meeting is being
attended by several union ministers, including Food and
Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.
The meeting is also likely to focus on strengthening the
public distribution system and stepping up anti-hording
measures by the state governments.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, February 06, 2010, 11:14