Ravi Shankar Prasad expresses confidence about putting lid on inflation

Jamshedpur, Jun 18 Union Minister of Telecommunication and IT, Ravishankar Prasad today expressed confidence that the inflation would be under control soon as necessary steps are being taken to control the prices of pulses in the country.

The wholesale market index is under control but only the prices of pulses and tomatoes spiralled, Prasad told a press conference here today.

The government has decided to import 6.5 million tones of pulses from Mozambique and African nations to tide over the increasing price, he said. Attributing the crisis because of supply-production gap, the Minister said pulses are being produced by some countries including parts of India.

Prasad expressed hope that the price of pulses would come down soon following the government's decision. Besides, the government was also exploring possibilities to produce pulses in African countries in co-operation with them, he said.

As far as the prices of tomatoes are concerned, it was seasonal and would be checked soon, Prasad, who laid the foundation stones of Jamshedpur and Dhanbad centres of Software Technology Parks of India at Adityapur, near here, under Seraikela-Kharswan district today, said.

Highlighting the achievement of the Narendra Modi government during the last two years in power including the turnaround in state-owned BSNL and Postal department, the Minister announced to set up 250 wifi hotspots in Jamshedpur and Ranchi this year. The officials have been asked to identify 60 wifi hotspots each in the two cities of Jharkhand and implement by this year, he said.

Besides, 185 towers would be set up this year to improve the mobile services in the state including 50 towers in and around Jamshedpur and 13 Post Shoppe in the state. The Minister pooh-poohed reports about possible health hazards due to radiation from mobile towers.

PTI