201 officers to keep eye on prices after GST

New Delhi: To keep a check on post-GST prices and availability of essential items, the Centre has formed crack teams of 201 senior bureaucrats to monitor the situation daily in all districts.

Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia said on Tuesday that the government is banking on consumer education and market competition to keep prices under check.

“So far all reports are positive. There are many products on which prices have been reduced, these are the reports that are coming... (But) we have to keep our fingers crossed, it is too early to celebrate,” he said.

Cabinet secretary P.K. Sinha had on Monday held a meeting with top government secretaries to chalk out measures to monitor availability of essential commodities and retail price trends. A Central monitoring committee, comprising of 15 top secretaries, will report to the Cabinet Secretary every Tuesday on the ground situation.

The government has clubbed each district of the country into 166 clusters, aligning them with the administrative divisions of the Central revenue department.

Mr Adhia said officers of additional secretary and joint secretary level have been roped in to monitor the situation and each of them would have four to five districts to look after.