Mamata for discussion on price rise in Parliament

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who on Saturday visited three vegetable markets in the city to check on the spiralling prices of vegetables,said that Parliament,leaving aside all other issues,should take up the issue of price hike that is plaguing the lives of common people.

In the last two weeks,prices of vegetables have sky-rocketted with items like brinjals,bhindi,green chillies selling between Rs 80 and Rs 100 a kilo at different markets of kolkata. Other vegetables like parmal,jhinga,karela,chichinga,to name a few,are selling between Rs 40 and Rs 60 a kilo. Though heavy rains are being blamed for the unusual price hike,there is a growing feeling that middlemen who,in order to make huge profits,are making vegetables costlier.

The chief minister who got severely perturbed after getting reports of the steep price hike,today,after returning from Petrapole where she went along with Union Home Minister P Chidambaram to attend the foundation-laying ceremony of a new integral border check post,visited three markets,the one at Ghariahat,Kolay market at Sheldah and another retail market,also at Sealdah.

“Why should Parliament take up a single individual’s (read Anna Hazare’s) personal issue. Corruption is of course a major issue and should be discussed but I believe price hike should get priority,’’ Banerjee said today.