'Centre responsible for spiraling prices of onions, pulses'

The "anti-people" policies of the NDA government at the Centre are responsible for spiraling prices of onions and pulses, according to a minister in the Himachal Pradesh government.
"Prices of foodgrains are constantly on rise and there has been unprecedented rise in prices of onions and pulses due to the polices of the NDA government but the state government is trying its best to provide essential commodities at reasonable rates to the people," state food and civil supply minister G S Bali told reporters here today.
He said the government has provided a sum of Rs 2,010 crore for subsidising the foodgrains for above poverty line (APL) families and inspite of sharp rise in prices of pulses, there may not be any immediate increase in pulses supplied through Public Distribution System (PDS).

The prices of some of the pulses have increased by Rs 100 to Rs 150 per kgdue to short production of 4-billion tonnes but the government was importing only 5,000tonnes of pulses which would not be of any help, he said adding that the government was constantly reviewing the stock positions to ensure that the stockiest and wholesalers did not indulge in hoarding , fuelling artificial price rise.
Himachal was a consumer state and the government has no control on goods coming from other states and the people of the state are forced to bear the burden of high prices, Bali observed.

Bali said that instructions have been issued to all the deputy commissioners tocheck hoarding by making regular inspections and directed the shopkeepers toto display the stock position.