Hyderabad, Oct. 28 -- Rice traders in Hyderabad have been ordered to put up boards at their shops showing the variety, stock and price per kg, as the State Civil Supplies department tries to check hoarding while prices keep climbing.

The directive was issued by Chief Rationing Officer GV Shyam Prasad Lal at a meeting with wholesalers and retailers on Tuesday, October 27, reported The Hindu. Traders must update the details regularly, and officials are to be alerted if there are gaps in supply.

Lal warned that action would be taken as per law against anyone creating an artificial scarcity of rice. He said the department would keep monitoring stocks and prices.

The order comes as the price of some rice varieties has nearly doubled, from a...