Chennai: Facing a united opposition over rise in prices of essential commodities, Tamil Nadu govt on Friday promised to roll out measures within three days to ease the burden on consumers. It attributed the surge partly to the war in West Asia and the resultant fuel crisis.Food, civil supplies, consumer protection and price control minister P Venkataraman told assembly that govt was closely monitoring prices and would take “concrete measures” soon. The price monitoring committee was tracking 41 essential commodities across the state. “We will make efforts to control onion price the next couple of days,” he said.Venkataraman was responding to a special call-attention motion moved by leader of opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin, AIADMK floor leader Edappadi K Palaniswami and legislators from PMK, Congress and Left parties.Udhayanidhi listed items and the increase in prices over the past few months before recalling the special distribution scheme introduced by former chief minister M Karunanidhi in 2007, under which 11 essential grocery items were sold for ₹50 through PDS. The scheme, he said, was meant to shield people from price shocks.Urging chief minister C Joseph Vijay to convene a meeting of finance, cooperation and civil supplies ministers, Udhayanidhi sought immediate intervention to protect consumers from further price escalation.Palaniswami said prices of essential commodities had risen by around 40% due to inflation and recalled that the previous AIADMK govt had set up a ₹100 crore price stabilisation fund. The fund was used to procure commodities such as onion and tomato from states where prices were lower, and sell them through PDS at subsidised rates.Venkataraman said TN govt would follow the existing mechanism and ensure adequate availability of essential commodities through PDS outlets and Pasumai Angadi stores. Efforts are on to control the price of onion and other commodities, he said.
