Odisha: Keep an eye on hoarders, black marketeers, says Ranendra Pratap Swain

BHUBANESWAR: Amid reports of black marketing and hoarding of essential goods by unscrupulous traders, state food supplies and consumer welfare minister Ranendra Pratap Swain on Wednesday instructed all civil supplies officers (CSO) to keep a close watch on the market situation.
“CSOs of all 30 districts have been asked to visit markets personally and to depute field officers to strictly monitor and check black marketing and hoarding of essential goods during the lockdown,” Swain said.
Instruction has been issued to take stringent action against black marketeers for hoarding of essential goods.
Stating that there is adequate stock of essential goods like potato, onion, rice, wheat, sugar, pulses, edible oil and other products, the minister urged people not to panic during the lockdown and sought their cooperation to contain the virus. Markets across the state witnessed mad rush for the past few days as people scrambled to buy essential commodities ahead of the lockdown, which started on Wednesday.
To facilitate people from availing essential goods during the lockdown, the government has allowed street corner and road-side shops selling food and essential items to operate on weekdays (Monday to Friday) between 6 am to 12 noon. Also, movement and transportation of goods both inter-state and intra-state are allowed during this period.
Though traders said there is sufficient stock of essentials and there is no report of price hike from anywhere, they urged the government to clarify certain doubts on movement of goods from wholesalers to retailers.
“Owners of street corner and road-side shops and retailers from villages do not have financial strength to purchase and stock goods for 14 days. They purchase goods from the wholesalers which last for two to three days. How will they visit the market to purchase goods once their stocks get exhausted? There is no clarity from the government in this regard despite repeated requests,” said Sudhakar Panda, secretary of Odisha Byabasayee Mahasangha.