Orissa blames Centre for price rise

The Orissa government today held the Congress led UPA government responsible for the price rise of essential commodities.

"Prices of essential commodities increased due to policies of the Centre. The prices of food items mostly depend on the fiscal policy and discipline of the central government," food supplies and consumer welfare minister Sarada Prasad Nayak told the assembly during a discussion by ruling BJD members on a calling attention motion in the assembly.

Stating that repeated hike in the prices of petroleum products led to increase in prices of food items, the minister alleged that the Centre had been changing its import and export policies at will.

Claiming that prices of essential items in Orissa were comparatively better than other states, he said that except rice the state was importing potato, onion, dal and other items from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharastra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

The prices of food items had also spiralled because of increased tranport cost with the hike in the price of fuel, Nayak said.

"The state government has successfully contained black marketing and hoarding of food items by taking steps," he claimed.