GUWAHATI, June 25 - Expressing concern over the soaring prices of essential commodities, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has taken a stern stand and asked the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department along with all Deputy Commissioners to make serious efforts to check the increasing prices, said an official press release here this evening.
Speaking at a high-level meeting in the conference room of his office at the State Secretariat, Sonowal expressed concern over the rising prices and issued a direction to the Deputy Commissioners to carry out compulsory market inspections in their respective districts and submit their reports with photographs to the Chief Minister�s Office by June 29.
Direction has also been given to the Deputy Commissioners to take remedial steps to control price rise so that essential commodities do not remain out of reach of the platter. Sonowal also said, �Once we get reports from the districts, we can actually ascertain the actual cause of price rise and we will be able to arrest the problem.�
Toeing the line of the Prime Minister�s dream programme �Swachh Bharat,� the Chief Minister asked the Deputy Commissioners to maintain cleanliness in the market places. He also asked the Deputy Commissioners to convene meetings with wholesalers, retailers and market committees and solve the problem of price rise.
He also directed inspectors of the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department to undertake inspections at the wholesale and retail outlets and address the mismatch of wholesale prices and those of the retail. Expressing concern over the high prices of fruits, especially during the holy month of Ramazan, he gave strict directions to the department to address the problem.
Chief Minister Sonowal also directed the food, civil supplies and consumer affairs department to take stock of the buffer stock of food articles and asked it to give him a clear picture on how food items are being disbursed at the fair price shops in the rural areas.
Commissioner and Secretary to the Chief Minister Sanjay Lohia, Commissioner and Secretary to Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department Rajesh Prasad and other top officers of the department were present in the meeting.
