Sonia: No roll back on fuel pricing

Sonia: No roll back on fuel pricing

2010-03-04 07:14:07 - Rise in prices fuel and food has raised question on the welfare of Aam Aadmi the plank on which Congress has won the ballot verdict and some of the essential commodities like pulses, flour, potato and onion prices have touch its peak last month.

There is compl;ete dissastifaction among the famers who are not getting the right price of their outputs and now Government has partly blamed high cost of intermediation for the spiralling food prices.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi has backed Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Budget at Congress Parliamentary Party meeting and indicated there will be no roll back on fuel pricing.
She said food security bill and women reservation bill are the most important bills.She criticised the opposition for playing negative politics on prise rise.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, role of middlemen is very high from farm gate to the wholesale markets and from wholesale markets to retail markets. He was addressing an event organised by CII in the capital on Wednesday evening. Mr Mukherji said, one of terms of reference of the Prime Minister-appointed core committee is to address this issue.

As food inflation hovers around 17 per cent, he said, a series of activities to increase productivity, conservation, storage, post-harvesting and pre-harvesting technologies will take place soon and more measures will be taken. In the Budget speech, Mr Mukherjee said, the Government is acutely conscious of high food prices and has set in motion steps in consultation with the Chief Ministers, which should bring down inflation in the next few months and ensure that there is better management of food security.

The opposition on Wednesday thurst the government in the Rajya Sabha on the spiraling prices alleging scam in sugar imports, a charge rejected by Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.Pawar, who was replying to a short duration discussion on the rising prices, faced allegations by the united opposition, particularly BJP and Left, of a "great scam" in sugar."Not a single kg of sugar was imported by the Government," Pawar said amid din which forced adjournment of the House for the third time during the day on issues related to fuel or food prices.