TN Govt taking steps to curb price rise: Minister

Chennai, Apr 29 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu Government is taking all steps to curb the rise in prices of essential commodities, State Finance Minister K Anbazhagan told the State Assembly today.

Intervening the debate on the demand for grants for commercial taxes department, he said the recent spurt in prices was not something unique to the State and the country, but universal.

Mr Anbazhagan said the prices have increased not because of higher rate of inflation, but because of more circulation of money in the hands of people.

Stating that it was not fair to accuse the Union and State Governments of being irresponsible, he said both the Governments were taking a slew of measures to check the rising prices.

Participating in the debate, former Commercial Taxes Minister Ce Ve Shanmugam (AIADMK) said the Government was boasting of slashing or abolishing taxes on various commodities, but the benefit had not reached the people. The spiralling prices of essentials had severely affected not only the poor and middle class families, but also the higher income groups.

He said both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram were confusing the people on the issue. On the one hand, they were saying inflation had triggered the price rise and on the other, they say the rise in prices had led to higher rate of inflation, he added.

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