Sonia to Cong CMs: Rein in prices

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Wednesday made a strong pitch for allowing the state governments greater powers to intervene against hoarders. The Congress Chief Ministers’ meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday urged the centre to review the NDA government's order of Feb 15 2002 rescinding control orders under Essential Commodities Act, and called for better regulation of forward trading of food grains.

Sonia also drew the line for her party Chief Ministers by asking them to take a series of measures to rein in prices. The Chief Ministers were advised to strengthen the Public Distribution System (PDS) and to ensure that the PDS functions effectively and provides essential commodities to the common people at reasonable prices.

The meeting was also attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, and the Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh.

Though there was no official word from the government's side, it's likely that the centre will take steps to rescind the NDA government's order, and also set up a control room to strictly monitor the price of essential commodities.