Mamata Banerjee on Thursday held the Centre’s policies responsible for the abnormal rise in the prices of essential commodities across the country before announcing some measures to bring down the rates of certain food items in Bengal.
The Bengal chief minister made it clear that though price rise was a central issue, she was trying to intervene — in her limited capacity — to alleviate the miseries of common people.
‘‘The BJP-led Centre has given a return gift to common people after the polls in five states by hiking fuel prices 10 times in the past 15 days. This has led to abnormal hikes in the prices of essential commodities.… We will sell some items though Sufal Bangla stalls by giving subsidies so that people of the state can get some relief,’’ she said during a meeting she convened at Nabanna to take stock of the price rise situation in the state.
Besides blaming the Centre for the runaway increase in fuel rates and their impact on prices, the chief minister elaborated on how the Narendra Modi dispensation’s policies had made common people’s lives difficult.
‘‘They (the Centre) increased the toll abnormally, which also led to hike in the prices of essential commodities. They have also increased the prices of life-saving drugs. All these have made the lives of common people miserable,’’ said the chief minister.
Mamata then rolled out a wish-list, making it clear that the Trinamul Congress would make the price rise a political issue. ‘‘First, the Centre should contain the fuel prices…. Second, the Centre should waive toll for the time being. Third, it should control the hike in price of (cooking) gas and life-saving drugs,’’ said the chief minister.
Mamata then instructed government officials to work out a mechanism through which some of the most essential food items could be sold at lower than market prices — by giving subsidy from the government — through Sufal Bangla outlets run by the state agriculture marketing department.
‘‘We will sell cucumbers at Rs 52 a kg while the price in the open market is Rs 60 a kg. Similarly, we will sell cauliflower at Rs 16 a piece while the market price is Rs 25 a piece,’’ said the chief minister as she took stock of prices of several items, from dates to bananas, and told her officials to sell them at subsidised rates. ‘‘We need to give subsidies to give people some relief. We will do it for the sake of people,’’ she added.
Mamata also asked the officials concerned to increase the number of Sufal Bangla stalls to 500 from the existing 332.
Sources said the initiative by the chief minister was a calculated one in her fight against the BJP.
‘‘The BJP was trying to destabilise the state government by using issues like the Bogtui massacre in which a number of Trinamul leaders were allegedly involved. But the chief minister can turn the tables on the BJP by using the price rise issue as it has left people in real trouble,’’ said a Trinamul insider.
Trinamul MPs participated in a demonstration against the price rise in front of the Gandhi statue inside the Parliament compound on Thursday. Leaders of the party from both houses — Sudip Banerjee and Derek O’Brien — were present during the demonstration.