Andhra Pradesh to develop app for crop prices

Vijayawada: To keep a check on inflation, the Andhra Pradesh government is developing a software application containing data on prices of essential commodities all over the state. If the prices show an upward trend, the administration will quickly take up market intervention measures to lower prices.

Chief Secretary Dr Sameer Sarma during a recent review meeting with top officials on inflation reportedly suggested to the civil supplies commissioner to develop the app for the benefit of the consumers.

Highly placed sources said that the app would be developed on the lines of ‘CM APP’ which is a unified procurement platform developed by AP Markfed for monitoring of agriculture crop prices.

According to sources, the market intervention will be in the form of ensuring that traders do not sell goods beyond the maximum retail price, or procuring commodities from other places where the rates are low and rushing them to the affected places to ease supply issues and bring down prices.

The app will be open for the consumers to download on their smart mobile phones so that they can track the prices of essential commodities at markets located near them.

The government had recently intervened to bring down the spiralling prices of edible oils following the Russia-Ukraine crisis, by carrying out a special drive on oil traders and booking cases against those who sold oils beyond MRP. Similarly, the government had also intervened to bring down the high cost of tomatoes by procuring them directly from the farmers and wholesalers and traders from Solapur and Delhi and selling them at affordable prices.