gÉÉŌ A.]ÉŌ. xÉÉxÉÉ

03.08.2010
Secondly, the Government has to fight with hoarders and black-marketeers.
The State Governments are empowered with enough power and capacity to deal
with them. I am sorry to say that in not a single case, no exemplary punishment
has been given to any black-marketeer or hoarder through which the other people
would get a lesson. The Government of India should certainly keep a vigil eye
over the functioning of the State Government in this regard.
There is Enforcement Directorate in every State to look after the conditions
of the retail market, and also to see whether the prices are going up or down. The
State Enforcement Police Directorate is to be activated and through this the
common people can come to know that the monitoring system is properly
functioning. There is a monitoring system about the market by the Government of
India. I think, it is to be further activated.
Our positive suggestion is that the Public Distribution System is to be made
more activated, and all the essential commodities are to be sold to the BPL
category people through the Public Distribution System.
We categorically mentioned the items, which are to be sold through the
Public Distribution System. They are: rice, wheat, atta, gram dal, arhar dal, mung
dal, masur dal, tea, milk, sugar, vanaspati, mustered oil, groundnut, potato, onion,
all sorts of vegetables and salt. If all these items are sold through the PDS and
there is a maximum amount of subsidy, then only the poor people would get some
relief from the Government in terms of prices. Just as we have announced the
MNREGA where a huge amount of subsidy is being given on this project to give
relief to the poorest of the poor, the downtrodden people, why can we not bring
these items under the total PDS, which can be sold at the Government rate to the
poorest of the people, the people who live below poverty line?
Fuel prices have increased sometimes during the NDA Government and
sometimes, during the UPA Government. There is nothing new in it. But any
increase up to certain amount, which may genuinely cause difficulties and trouble
to the common people, makes us very much on the alert. Here, I would say that
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