The Hindu : New Delhi News : Prices will rise further, warn traders

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Thursday, Apr 24, 2008
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New Delhi

Prices will rise further, warn traders

Staff Reporter

Agitated over raids, Delhi grain merchants decide not to buy any fresh stock

NEW DELHI: For the common man in the Capital already reeling under the onslaught of spiralling prices, here is some more bad news. Agitated over the Delhi Government’s sustained raids on shopkeepers to check hoarding, nine associations of traders along with the Delhi Grain Merchants’ Association and the Dal and Besan Millers’ Association have decided to “stop buying fresh stocks from outside Delhi as the State Government is preventing us from keeping stocks by conducting raids on foodgrain traders in the city”.

The decision was taken at a meeting here on Wednesday. Delhi Grain Merchants’ Association president O. P. Jain said: “We fear that the common man will have to face a further increase in the prices of grains and pulses with the depletion of stocks in the city as we have decided not to buy fresh stocks from outside Delhi.” Reasoning that no trader wants to stockpile eatables and foodgrains as these commodities depend on the crop season, Mr. Jain said the Delhi Government had forced them to take the step. “The prices of wheat and pulses increased by about a rupee [per kg]on Tuesday because of constant raids,” he added.

Dal and Besan Millers’ Association president Ashok Gupta said the grain merchants had almost sold off their entire stocks and not ordered fresh ones because of “unnecessary harassment” by the Government.

Exonerating themselves from any responsibility for pushing up the prices of essential items, Mr. Gupta said: “We cannot be blamed for a sharp increase in the prices of foodgrains in Delhi in the coming days. The prices are also increasing in the foodgrain production States. We are going by the whims of the Delhi Government and cannot be blamed for future price increases.”

Stating that traders were open to all checks of stocks as no trader wanted to hold stocks in a fluctuating global market, Mr. Gupta seconded the claim of the various foodgrain associations denying any role in the increase in wholesale prices index, stating that the cost of these commodities was less in the Capital than in other States such as Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

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