SALEM: Acting against Monday's rumours of shortage of salt, Salem collector V Sampath on Tuesday sealed three shops for selling salt at exorbitant prices in the district. He also warned errant traders against hiking the prices of salt."We have 60 tonnes of salt in PDS outlets and people should not pay heed to rumours of shortage of salt," the collector said. He said people can approach all PDS outlets in the district to get common salt.Earlier, he inspected a few departmental stores in the city and inquired with the traders about the artificial demand for common salt.As the rumours of salt scarcity spread on Monday evening, panic buyers bought 1kg of salt for 350. Shops in several areas in the city started selling salt at exorbitant rates.Meanwhile, general secretary of Salem city chamber of commerce A Jayaseelan said that there is no shortage for common salt in the state. "We have warned all our traders not to stock common salt with an intension to create artificial demand," he said. He also said that the district administration and the traders have enough stock in their shops and people should not pay exorbitant prices for common salt.

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