Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Piyush Goyal has directed the Department of Consumer Affairs to monitor prices of essential commodities. He asked officials to ensure that adequate stock of commodities to cushion price shocks and stabilise prices.
The DoCA collects data of prices from 157 centres across 34 States/UTs which are also expected to monitor the prices of 22 essential Commodities, especially pulses, oilseeds, vegetables and milk. This is to ensure timely market intervention to keep prices affordable to consumers.
“The Union Minister said that the provisions of Essential Commodities Act may be enforced by States if any miller, wholesaler or retailer tries to take undue advantage of the Covid situation and hoards essential commodities,” an official statement added.
In a bid to ease the supply of pulses, the Ministry of Commerce has also changed its import policy. “The Minister said that advance planning be done by all concerned to ensure that no shortage of any essential commodity emerges at any time,” the statement added.
“An online datasheet was also shared with States to fill the details of millers, wholesalers and importers and the stocks of pulses held by them...pulse producing States were also requested to facilitate procurement to encourage farmers to cultivate pulses, it said.