Bengal Govt asks police to crack down on hoarders

Kolkata, Feb 23(UNI) In a bid to counter the spiralling prices of essential commodities, the West Bengal Government has directed the police to crack down on hoarders.

''We are initiating measures against price rise. We have asked the enforcement branch of police to take action,'' Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today said.

The measures had been initiatiated even before the state government received a letter from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the need to contain price rise, he said in reply to a question.

Chief Secretary Amit Krian Deb later told reporters that the enforcement branch of police had been asked to launch raids against hoarding by a section of businessmen.

UNI