NGO asks Minister to explain price rise of vegetables in Delhi

New Delhi, June 23 (UNI) Alleging that prices of vegetables in Delhi had risen 10 times in the last 40 days, an NGO today termed it as an example of the paralysis of the state administration.

In a letter to the Minister for Food and Civil supplies in the Delhi Government Raj Kumar Chauhan, the NGO Peoples Action asked him to explain the increase in vegetables and commodities prices.

''The nearly ten times increase in prices of vegetables and commodities - the Department of Civil Supplies had declared the wholesale rates of tomatoes at Azadpur Mandi at Rs 2.50-Rs 4 on the May 9 while today it is selling at Rs. 25-30 in wholesale markets across Delhi while retail prices are touching Rs. 45 per kilo - evidences the fact that the entire administration is paralysed and Government control is almost defunct. They have no idea of what is going on and they have no explanations,''said Pankaj Gupta, group coordinator of People's Action.

Criticising the massive price rise, members of the group said,''the Delhi Government is now a slave of cartels, be it the trader cartel or the transporter cartel. Thanks to the support, or at the very least the active indifference of the Minister and his administration, everyone is having a field day, except the citizens of the state, who are paying through their nose,''said members of the group.

The letter to Mr Chauhan also asks him to order an enquiry into why mutton prices did not deflate after the bird-flu scare abated while chicken prices rose to earlier levels.

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