<br/>Opposition has demanded a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the alleged food scam. Initiating the debate in the Lok Sabha on the price rise, the Leader of the Opposition, Mrs. Sushma Swaraj said that the JPC should also enquire into the export and import of essential commodities including wheat, rice and sugar. She charged the government with the failure to take appropriate measures to contain food inflation. Mrs Swaraj said though there have been adequate quantities of food grains lying at various ports, effective steps were not taken for their lifting, which resulted in a huge loss to exchequer. She alleged that some sugar mill owners had taken advantage of the situation. Participating in the debate, Mr Sanjay Nirupam of the Congress, strongly defended the policies of the government in food management. He alleged that the state governments have not taken timely and effective action against hoarders and blackmarketers. He was speaking in the house when the reports last came in.<br/><br/>In the Rajya Sabha, initiating the debate, the leader of opposition, Mr. Arun Jaitely alleged that continued higher food inflation was the result of lack of coordination between various ministries. He said that the government failed to take up pre-emptive measures to bridge the gap between demand and supply. The debate is continuing.<br/><br/>Our Parliamentary Correspondent says that in an unprecedented move, the Presiding Officers of both the houses, agreed for suspension of question hour to take up the issue for discussion. This followed the agreement between the government and the opposition on the procedure of the discussion. Earlier, the Lok Sabha Speaker, Mrs Meira Kumar had rejected the opposition's adjournment motion with the provision of voting.<br/>