Edible oil to be imported
Steps to curb price rise
Tribune News Service

NEW DELHI, Aug 28 — Alarmed by the rising prices of essential commodities, the Union Government has swung into action to contain the trend.

As a first step, the Government has placed import of split soyabean seeds and sunflower seeds in the Open General Licence list by which the prices of edible oils are expected to come down. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Prices (CCP) here last night which reviewed the prices of essential commodities.

The official spokesman said the import of sunflower seeds would, however, be subjected to quarantine for a specific period.

The meeting, held in the backdrop of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee’s assertion in his Independence Day speech that the Government would come up with several measures to check the price rise, also asked the Department of Sugar and Edible Oils to immediately consider import of additional quantities of edible oil to keep prices under check.

With regard to wheat, the CCP was informed that the procurement this year has exceeded 12 million tonne and the Government had already contracted import of 1.5 million tonne of wheat, a large quantity of which had already arrived in the country.

In view of the comfortable stock position, the Department of Food and Civil Supplies has been asked to consider at an appropriate time open market sales of wheat.

Reviewing the price situation of onions, it was decided that NAFED should consider the possibility of increasing supplies of onions at concessional rates from 30 tonne per day to 50 tonne per day.

The CCP meeting was preceded by a meeting of the Special Action Committee of the Secretaries on Prices on August 25. The meeting reviewed the prices as well as the stock situation of various commodities. It also reviewed the crop prospects of rice, wheat, onion, pulses, edible oil as well as the impact of the monsoon in various parts of the country.

The rainfall is very well spread out and as of now the Committee felt that the crop situation appears to be bright.

Regarding stock positions, the total stock of rice and wheat in the Central pool as on July 1, this year was 285.15 lakh tonne which was higher by 62 lakh tonne than the quantity required under the buffer stock norm.

The secretaries committee also directed NAFED to procure supplies of onions from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Haryana and distribute them at Rs 10 per kg in Delhi, where there was an acute shortage of onions.

The committee also decided that apart from making wheat available from public stocks to roller flour mills, they would be allowed to import their wheat requirements under Open General Licence.

Reviewing the availability of edible oil in the country, the Government has already decided to import 1.5 lakh tonnes of edible oil through the STC for distribution through public distribution system. About 98,000 tonne of edible oil has been contracted and two vessels have arrived in the country. Five more vessels carrying edible oil are expected before the end of this month.