To reduce the impact on the common man, the Andhra Pradesh government has taken a series of measures.

As a first step, the state government has decided supply palm oil and red gram under subsidised rationing through the public distribution system (PDS) from June 1. To meet the programme costs, the government will extend Rs 375 crore as subsidy, officials said. Also, the government has also decided to create a market intervention fund with a corpus of Rs 100 crore, which may be later increased to Rs 250 crore.

While red gram and palm oil will be made available through the rythu bazaars from May 1, state officials said fair price shops would also supply red gram and palm oil from June 1, at a price of Rs 45 per litre and Rs 30 per kg, respectively. The schemes will benefit about 88 lakh-odd people with white ration cards in the state. ??The measure would straightaway address the problems of rising prices of commodities,?? senior officials said.

This apart, the government has decided to strengthen the intelligence wing of the civil supplies department to unearth hoarding and diversion of essential products from the PDS to the open market.

Further, the group of ministers (GoM) on price rise has suggested that the government establish an expert committee to compare and analyse wholesale and retail prices on a regular basis and give suitable suggestions to the government.

Officials said district collectors had been asked to initiate district-wise meetings with traders and take up stringent action against black-marketers and hoarders. Similar monitoring and controls would be initiated in all essential commodities.

As a long-term measure, the AP government has decided to encourage farmers to take up cultivation of vegetables and pulses by offering attractive schemes and incentives besides ensuring remunerative prices. The government is already providing input subsidy, seed subsidy and various other schemes. All these schemes will now be reoriented to suit the demand of other agriculture products, apart form paddy and commercial crops.