Lack of proper planning by the central government has shot up food prices, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said here Saturday.
"Price rise is due to lack of proper planning and decisiveness on the part of the central government," Pokhriyal said on the sidelines of the chief ministers' conference called to discuss steps to tackle the situation.
"A cell should be constituted by the central government to monitor the availability and storage of food stocks and the demand for them in the market," he said.
Pokhriyal, who heads a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, indicated that the current price rise was artificially created. He said that sugar was exported at Rs.17 per kg and imported later at Rs.44 a kg.
"If it is a natural price rise, then all the states will stand with the centre. If it is artificial, then the centre has to deal with it," he said.