SAIGON: Vietcong troops pushed into two province capitals within 40 miles of Saigon today [April 9]. Field reports said the Vietcong pushed to the centre of Xuan Loc ... and briefly captured the south end of Tan An. ... Backed by artillery, rocket and mortar fire, the Vietcong overran Binh Khanh district capital, six miles west of Xuan Loc. It was the 68th district town out of 273 in the nation to fall to the Vietcong forces. The fate of 300 troops at Binh Khanh was unknown. News agencies [Meanwhile, as reported by our Islamabad Bureau,] Mr Feroze Qaiser, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Economic Affairs has allayed fears entertained by the common man that the price increase in respect of wheat, sugar and ghee would have spillover effect and that prices of related and even unrelated commodities would rise in sympathy.

He gave this categorical assurance in ...

[a] ... TV and Radio interview. ... To a question that the Government should have slashed non-development expenditure instead of resorting to a reduction of subsidies on foodstuffs, [he] said there was practically no scope for any cut down in any of the major items. ... [He] brushed aside any possibility of currency revaluation.