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Food prices will
be stabilized
soon: PM
New Delhi, Feb 06 (PTI) :
Under attack over spiralling prices, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
today said the worst of food inflation is over and the situation
will ease soon.
“... the worst is over as far as food inflation is concerned. I am
confident that we will soon be able to stabilise food prices,” he
said addressing the Chief Ministers’ conference on food prices here.
“Food prices have softened in recent weeks and I expect this to
continue,” he told the Chief Ministers who voiced serious concern
over the rising prices.
In
a stern warning to hoarders, the Prime Minister said powers under
the Essential Commodities Act would be used against them to stop
artificial scarcity.
Driven by rising prices of essential food items like pulses and
vegetables, food inflation touched a decade high of nearly 20 per
cent in December before moderating a little bit in January. The
Prime Minister said that good crop prospects and increasing linkages
between the domestic and global food prices would help in
stabilising the food inflation.
Thanking Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who has been
under attack both by the Opposition, allies and a section of
Congress, for convening the conference, Singh said, “We are all very
concerned about the distress that the sharp rise in food prices has
caused to the common man.”
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