New Delhi: The Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Piyush Goyal, flagged off 100 mobile vans for the sale of wheat flour (Atta) under the ‘Bharat’ brand, here today.
The atta will be available at all physical and mobile outlets of Kendriya Bhandar, NAFED and NCCF from today under the Open Market Sale Scheme [OMSS (D)] and will be expanded to other co-op and retail outlets at a Maximum Retail Price not exceeding ₹27.50/Kg. The Minister elaborated that 2.5 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) of wheat at the rate of Rs.21.50/kg had been allocated for semi-government and cooperative organizations for converting to atta and offer it for sale to the public under the ‘Bharat Atta’ brand at an MRP not exceeding ₹ 27.50/Kg.
“The launch of retail sale of ‘Bharat’ brand atta will increase supplies in the market at affordable rates and will help in continued moderation of prices of this important food item,” Goyal said.
Moreover, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution informed that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) was conducting nationwide weekly e-auctions for the sale of wheat under OMSS(D). The Ministry said that only wheat processors (Atta chakkis /roller flour mills) could participate in these weekly e-auctions.
FCI is offering Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Users Required Specifications (URS) on wheat for sale @Rs. 2150 and 2125 per quintal respectively, per the prices fixed by Government. Traders are not allowed to participate in the e-auction as the intent of the Government is to ensure that purchased wheat is directly processed and released to ordinary consumers at affordable prices. Each bidder can take up to 200 MT in the weekly e-auction. FCI is offering 3 LMT of wheat for sale in the weekly e-auctions under OMSS(D). So far, 65.22 LMT of wheat has already been released into the open market by FCI as per Government directions.
The Ministry said the government has “significantly” increased the total amount of wheat to be offered for sale under OMSS (D) to 101.5 LMT till March 2024, instead of 57 LMT till December 2023 as part of a series of measures taken to moderate wheat prices. A decision has also been taken to offload a further quantity of up to 25 LMT (over and above 101.5 LMT) of wheat from the buffer stock, if needed, by March 31, 2024.
The export of wheat has already been banned to ensure sufficient domestic availability of this commodity. The government has also imposed limits on the stock holding of wheat by different categories of entities like wholesalers/traders, processors, retailers and big chain retailers, to prevent hoarding. Stock holding of wheat is being monitored regularly to ensure that wheat/atta is released into the market by traders, processors and retailers on a regular basis, and that there is no stockpiling or hoarding. These steps are taken to check the increase in the market prices of wheat by increasing its supplies, the Ministry stated.
– global bihari bureau
