By IANS,
New Delhi : Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath Tuesday asked state governments to become more “proactive” in controlling inflation by taking action against hoarding to tame rising prices of food items and commodities.
“We would like to see the state governments ensure that there is no hoarding, there’s no profiteering. The state governments have the mechanism and they must ensure that the supply lines are not dropped,” Kamal Nath said on the sidelines of a meeting here.
“We do know that production has not gone down. Production in oil seeds has not gone down. So if there are supply side constraints, a large part of the responsibility lies with the state governments” and they should become “proactive on this”, the minister said.
He also said the government was taking necessary measures to control the spiralling inflation, which is having an adverse affect on the household budgets of the common man.
“The government is doing anything and everything it can to control inflation,” he said.
“We have to ensure that the steps taken are in effect benefiting the consumers so it’s just not one set of steps. There are a series of steps that need to be taken,” Kamal Nath said.
“There are problems in the supply-chain management and it has to be moderated by the state governments,” he stressed, adding that inflation would soon be under control.
Inflation touched a 41-month high of 7.41 percent in the week ended March 29.
The government has announced steps like banning export of cement and withdrawal of incentives on steel exports so as to control inflation.