Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today called on the States to work together with the Centre to bring prices under control. Addressing a meeting of the Chief Ministers in New Delhi today the Prime Minister said, the States must ensure that food items released by the Centre reach the people. He said that the public distribution system is hopelessly outdated and needs to be overhauled. Dr. Singh asked the States to focus attention on the development of market intervention mechanism which can act as a supplement to the public Distribution system. He regretted that the lifting of wheat and rice by the states has not been encouraging. He also wanted the States to strengthen the Civil Supply Corporation. In a stern warning to hoarders, the Prime Minister said powers under the Essential Commodities Act would be used against them to stop artificial scarcity. The Prime Minister said the worst of food inflation is over and food prices will be stabilised soon. He assured that food security will not be compromised in any way. He said, that there are comfortable levels of food stocks. The Prime minister also said, several steps have been taken to augment the Kharif output despite the failure of monsoons and the Rabi prospects are also encouraging.<br/><br/>Laying emphasis on increasing the per hectare yield of foodgrains as a long term strategy, Dr. Manmohan Singh said that the States have not paid much attention to this and there is a need for strengthening the agriculture extension services . He said that recently the government has released 25 lakh tonnes of wheat and 10 lakh tonnes of rice. The Prime Minister said that despite the global meltdown, the growth in the current fiscal is expected to be 7.5 percent. While admitting that the government has been less successful on the food inflation front, Dr. Singh said that it has been able to protect the inclusiveness of the growth process. <br/>